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OF  CALIFORNIA 

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LIBRARY 


^_^y 


THROUGH 

Santo  Domingo  and 
Haiti 

( 

A  Cruise  With  the  Marines 


By 

SAMUEL  GUY  INMAN 

Executive  Secretary  of  the  Committee  on  Co-operation 
in  Latin  America 


/ 


Report  of  a  Visit  to  these  Island 
Republics  in  the  Summer  of  1919 

RNIA 

JF. 

COMMITTEE    ON    CO-OPERATION 
IN    LATIN    AMERICA 

25  MADISON  AVENUE 
NEW  YORK  CITY 


77b0 


o: 

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nary 


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CONTENTS 


PAGE 


*•    Map  of  Santo  Domingo  and  Haiti 2 

.    Foreword    4 


Part  I.     Santo  Domingo 

I.     General   Observations   and   Travel   Notes 5 

TI.     History — Government — American     Occupation 15 

III.  Commerce — Transportation — Resources    24 

IV.  The  People  and  Their  Social  Problems 34 

V.     Dominican  Authors  and  Literature 40 

VI.     Education  and   Religion 45 

Part  II.     Haiti 

I.     History    54 

1 1.     Crossing  the   Island 57 

1 1 1.     Problems  of  American  Occupation 68 

1  V.     Commerce  and  Natural  Resources 11 

V.     Education  and  Sanitation 74 

\  I .     The  People  7«; 

VII.      Missions   in    Haiti    86 

Bibliography    91 


FOREWORD 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Committee  on  Co-operation 
in  Latin  America,  January  13,  1919,  the  Executive  Secretary 
was  authorized  to  make  a  survey  of  religious,  social  and 
educational  conditions  in  the  Dominican  Republic  and  Haiti. 

The  report  presented  herewith  is  a  brief  digest  of  the  in- 
formation gathered  on  this  trip,  presented  partly  in  the  form 
of  a  brief  account  of  the  trip  itself,  together  with  recommenda- 
tions for  the  development  of  an  educational,  social  and 
spiritual  program  that  will  be  a  real  help  to  these  two  needy 
countries. 

Much  material  gleaned  from  the  few  available  recent 
authoritative  sources  on  Haiti  and  Santo  Domingo,  of  which 
Schoenrich's  "Santo  Domingo,  A  Country  with  a  Future,"  is 
easily  first,  is  included  in  the  following  chapters.  Some  of 
the  best  of  this  quoted  matter  is  now  out  of  print.  The 
writer  can  scarcely  assume  authority  or  claim  credit  for  all 
of  this  information,  though  careful  effort  has  been  made  to 
insure  its  reasonable  accuracy.  There  is  need  for  a  real  hand- 
book on  the  Island,  and  it  is  the  meeting,  in  part  at  least,  of 
this  demand,  rather  than  the  production  of  a  work  that  should 
conform  to  all  the  canons  of  literary  usage  that  has  been  the 
raison  d'etre  of  this  booklet.  For  other  defects,  no  further 
apology  is  offered  than  the  necessary  haste  of  preparation. 

A  visit  to  Santo  Domingo  and  Haiti  probably  carries  with 
it  more  surprises  for  the  average  American  than  a  trip  to  any 
other  neighboring  countries.  After  only  five  days  on  a  slow 
boat  from  New  York  one  finds  himself  in  the  midst  of  con- 
ditions which  continually  remind  him,  on  one  hand,  of  the 
heart  of  Africa,  and  on  the  other  of  the  neglect  and  arrested 
development  arising  from  Spain's  abuse  of  the  oldest  of  her 
American  colonies.  The  problem  that  the  United  States  is 
facing  in  practically  taking  over  the  island  is  an  enormous 
one.  Its  seriousness  is  probably  recognized  by  very  few  indeed. 

S.  G.  I. 


PART  ONE 
SANTO    DOMINGO 

CHAPTER  I 
GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  AND  TRAVEL  NOTES 

"United  States  Urged  to  Withdraw  from  Santo  Domingo 
— Spanish  Parliament  Expresses  Desire,"  was  a  recent  head- 
ing carried  in  our  morning  papers. 

And  many  people  rubbed  their  eyes  and  asked  what  it 
meant,  and  where  was  Santo  Domingo  and  what  had  we  to 
do  with  it?  Just  as  a  friend  when  told  by  a  United  States 
Marine  Chaplain  of  being  ordered  to  go  to  Santo  Domingo, 
exclaimed :  "Oh,  ah,  that's  too  bad !  How  will  you  go,  by 
San  Francisco?" 

The  Dominican  Republic,  or  Santo  Domingo  (don't  say 
(<  San  Domingo,"  there  is  no  such  combination  in  the  Spanish 
language)  is  a  country  occupying  two-thirds  of  the  second 
largest  island  in  the  West  Indies.  It  lies  squarely  between 
Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  and  is  two-fifths  as  large  as  the  former 
and  six  times  as  large  as  the  latter. 

The  high  spots  of  Dominican  history  are  these:  Discovered 
by  Columbus  on  his  first  voyage  and  made  the  seat  of  the  first 
permanent  European  colony  in  the  New  World ;  the  home 
of  Christopher,  Bartolome  and  Diego  Columbus ;  of  Las  Ca- 
sas;  Cortez ;  Ponce  de  Leon,  and  most  of  the  old  Conquista- 
dores,  who  here  first  fell  on  their  knees  to  thank  God  for  a 
new  found  world  and  next  fell  on  the  Aborigines  and  took 
the  said  world  for  themselves.  The  slaughter  of  the  natives 
was  so  ruthlessly  carried  out  that  the  colony  lost  its  wonder- 
ful prosperity,  as  its  workers  were  exterminated  within  fifty 
years  after  the  discovery.  Then,  for  three  centuries,  it  at- 
tracted little  attention  from  the  outside  world. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  19th  Century,  in  the  general 
movement  for  independence  in  Latin  America.  Haiti,  treeing 
herself  from  France,  extended  her  rule  over  Santo  Domingo. 
The  Negro  Republic  maintained  its  domination  with  its  policy 
of  making  the  whole  island  black,  until  1844.  Independence 
was  lost  to  Spain  in  1861,  but  regained  four  years  later,  and 


maintained,  in  spite  of  almosl  constant  internal  disorder,  until 
July  1916.  when  the  United  States  hoisted  the  Star  and  Stripes 
over  the  turbulent  people.  As  far  hack  as  1907  the  United 
States  had  signed  a  convention  with  the  Dominican  Republic, 
whereby  we  collected  her  customs  and  administered  her 
finances.  As  the  continued  revolutions  had  largely  centered 
around  the  custom  houses,  which  were  the  principal  source 
of  national  revenue,  it  was  thought  that  in  keeping  these  from 
the  revolutionary  leaders  the  too  ardent  desire  for  office  would 
be  largely  eliminated  and  armed  disturbances  stopped. 

This  did  not  prove  true,  however.  During  the  presidency 
of  Jimenez  in  1914  his  old  rival,  Baez,  challenged  his  power. 
With  the  consent  of  Jimenez  the  United  States  landed  marines 
on  both  the  northern  and  southern  parts  of  the  island.  Those 
landing  on  the  north  had  a  rather  serious  time,  fighting  their 
way  across  the  island  to  the  capital,  which,  by  this  time,  was 
pacified.  The  new  provisional  president,  Henriquez,  refusing 
to  sign  a  treaty  proposed  by  the  United  States,  along  the 
lines  recently  arranged  with  Haiti,  the  United  States,  which 
controlled  all  the  revenues,  iii  turn,  refused  to  turn  over  any 
money  to  the  government.  The  deadlock  was  broken  on  No- 
vember 29,  1916,  by  the  issuing  of  a  proclamation  by  Rear 
Admiral  Knapp  placing  the  country  under  martial  law.  It 
has  so  remained  up  to  the  present. 

It  was  into  this  interesting  political  situation,  an  interest 
which  is  intensified  ten-fold  by  the  history  and  marvelous 
natural  resources  and  beauty  of  the  island,  that  I  found 
myself  thrust  in  the  summer  of  1919. 

Every  one  had  impressed  on  me  the  difficulty  of  travel  in 
that  part  of  the  world.  There  are  two  ways  of  getting  to 
Santo  Domingo.  One  is  by  the  Clyde  Line  from  New  York. 
taking  six  days  to  the  northern  port  of  Puerto  Plata  and 
twelve  days  to  Santo  Domingo  City  on  the  southern  shore. 
The  other  way  is  to  go  to  Porto  Rico  and  take  a  little  coaster 
across  the  channel.  There  is  only  one  boat  now  running  from 
Porto  Rico  to  Santo  Domingo,  which  makes  a  trip  about  every 
ten  days,  but  it  is  so  crowded  that  half  of  the  would-be  pas- 
sengers are  generally  left  behind.  There  being  practically 
no  roads  on  the  Island,  it  is  quite  difficult  to  travel,  even  on 
horseback,  at  the  present  time,  as  swollen  rivers  and  bandits 
might  delay  one  indefinitely.  All  my  information  was  to  the 
effect  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  from  Santo  Domingo  to 
Haiti.  Added  to  lack  of  ships,  absence  of  railways  between 
important  centers  and  almost  equal  lack  of  wagon  roads,  the 
next  report  that  there  was  such  a  demand  for  passage  north 

6 


(iii  steamships  at  this  season  that  $500  is  often  offered  for 
a  reservation,  makes  one  appreciate  some  of  the  difficulties. 
1  chose  to  go  by  way  of  Porto  Rico  and  through  the 
courtesy  of  Captain  Blood  of  the  U.  S.  N.  Yacht  "Kwashing" 
1  was  enabled  to  go  directly  from  that  country  to  Santo  I  )< 
raingo  City.  Fortunately  the  "Kwashing"  stopped  several 
hours  at  La  Romana  and  at  San  Pedro  de  Macoris,  centers  of 
American  sugar  interests,  giving  me  the  necessary  time  to 
see  both  places. 

On  the  first  day  in  the  Capital  I  was  presented  to  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  Republic,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  and 
Education,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  other  cabinet 
officers.  All  of  them  speak  perfect  English  and  offered  to  help 
me  in  my  proposed  studies  in  every  possible  way.  Perhaps 
I  ought  to  explain  what  1  had  not  fully  realized  until  my 
arrival  that  the  President  of  the  Republic  is  Rear  Admiral 
Snowden,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  and  Education  is  Colonel  Rufus  Lane,  U.  S.  Marine 
Corps,  and  that  all  the  Executive  and  Legislative  power  is 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  not  even  a  semblance 
of  native  Dominican  Government  being  maintained.  There 
are.  of  course,  many  advantages  in  this,  one,  for  instance, 
being  that  when  the  United  States  Minister  who  is  courteous- 
ly maintained  before  the  Dominican  Republic  calls  on  the  Pres- 
ident of  that  country,  as  he  does  practically  every  day,  he 
does  not  have  to  use  an  interpreter,  nor  does  he  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  make  the  "President"  see  the  matter  in  hand  from  the 
American  standpoint! 

Without  discussing  at  all  the  merits  of  the  present  situa- 
tion, one  is  deeply  impressed  with  the  fine  spirit  in  which  the 
Admiral  and  his  cabinet  are  carrying  on  their  work,  which 
they  seem  to  regard  as  a  real  missionary  job.  The  Admiral 
said  that  when  he  first  received  the  request  from  Admiral 
Benson  in  Paris  to  go  to  Santo  Domingo,  he  said  abruptly, 
"1  won't  go."  Benson's  cable  back  to  the  Department  was: 
"Disappointed  in  Snowden."  The  Department  again  put  it 
up  to  Snowden,  telling  him  he  was  holding  up  the  whole  navy 
program.  So  he  decided  to  go.  Now  that  he  is  down  there 
he  has  become  so  interested  in  helping  these  people  that  he 
would  like  to  spend  the  rest  of  his  official  life  working  out  the 
problems  now  before  him. 

Colonel  Lane,  who  is  doing  a  wonderful  work  in  develop- 
ing primary  schools,  said  to  the  Admiral,  when  there  was 
talk  of  having  the  Navy  officials  paid  extra  from  the  Dominican 
treasury,  that  he  would  refuse  to  accept  such  pay. 


Among  the  Dominicans  who  were  particularly  gracious 
to  me  was  Archbishop  Nouel,  to  whom  I  was  presented  by 
the  American  physician  at  the  head  of  the  Marine  Medical 
Corps.  I  explained  that  I  represented  the  American  Protest- 
ant churches  who  were  awakening  to  their  duty  in  giving  to 
the  Dominican  people  spiritual  help  by  means  of  schools,  in- 
stitutional churches  and  hospitals,  and  that  we  would  hope 
to  work  in  harmony  with  all  forces  endeavoring  to  uplift  the 
people.  He  said  there  was  great  need  for  such  a  practical 
program  as  we  proposed  and  he  hoped  that  we  would  carry 
it  out.  He  added  that  he  found  it  very  difficult  to  raise  funds 
for  the  Church,  that  there  was  great  indifference  to  religion 
and  that  the  ignorance  was  appalling.  He  took  me  through 
the  old  Cathedral,  begun  in  1512,  showed  me  all  their  wonder- 
ful treasures,  including  the  resting  place  of  the  bones  of  Colum- 
bus, and  told  me  the  thrilling  story  of  the  finding  of  his  body 
during  some  repairs  on  the  Cathedral,  when  it  had  been  form- 
erly supposed  that  it  had  been  removed  to  Spain. 

Mention  of  the  Cathedral  brings  to  mind  the  wonderful 
historic  monuments  that  are  found  wherever  you  turn  in  this 
oldest  of  American  towns.  The  San  Nicolas  Church,  built 
in  1502,  the  tower  in  which  Columbus  was  confined,  the  old 
building  where  the  first  university  was  founded  in  1538,  houses 
where  Pizarro,  Las  Casas  and  other  worthies  lived — they  are 
all  here,  with  a  hundred  other  things,  many  of  which  are  no 
less  interesting  for  the  doubtful  historicity  of  the  legends  that 
cling  to  them. 

The  chief  trouble  is  that  little  progress  has  been  made  since 
those  glorious  days.  This  capital  has  no  street  cars,  no 
sewers,  water  or  telephone  systems;  only  a  few  private  elec- 
tric light  plants  and  no  building  ever  erected  entirely  for 
school  purposes.  Illiteracy  on  the  Island  is  calculated  at  90 
to  95  percent  for  persons  over  ten  years  of  age.  Many  country 
people  have  no  sense  of  numbers  above  five.  There  are  prac- 
tically no  roads,  and  the  northern  and  southern  parts  of  the 
Island  are  like  two  different  countries.  Venereal  diseases, 
hookworm,  malaria,  and  tuberculosis  run  riot  without  any  one 
knowing  how  to  treat  them. 

The  primary  object  of  my  visit  was  to  survey  the  country 
and  suggest  a  united  program  of  service  which  could  be 
undertaken  to  help  in  the  Island's  development.  Practically 
every  person  I  asked  as  to  what  the  people  were  in  particular 
need  of  replied,  "Everything."  If  I  suggested  this  or  that 
or  the  other  institution  or  activity  the  reply  was  "Yes,  any- 
thing you  can  do  for  those  people  will  be  worth  while.    Don't 


be  afraid  of  duplicating-  or  doing  too  much.     That  would  be 
impossible." 

After  a  week  in  the  Capital,  I  drew  up  a  tentative  program 
and  invited  ten  gentlemen  to  meet  me  at  luncheon  to  discuss 
it.  There  were  present  the  Admiral  and  his  staff,  or  the  Pres- 
ident and  his  Cabinet,  as  you  choose  to  call  them,  the  Chap- 
lain of  the  Marines,  the  Archdeacon  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  others.  Admiral  Snowden  expressed  himself  later  in  a 
letter  as  follows: 

"I  beg  to  thank  you  for  your  hospitality  of  yesterday  at 
the  Enlisted  Men's  Club,  which  was  a  most  enjoyable  meet- 
ing. I  was  very  much  interested  in  the  program  you  pre- 
sented and  which  we  discussed,  and  most  cordially  endorse 
the  program  and  hope  that  we  can  arrange  co-operation  so 
that  the  many  beneficial  institutions  there  outlined  can  be 
materialized  for  the  benefit  of  the  Dominican  people.  These 
people  are  in  the  greatest  need  of  the  institutions  therein 
specified.  They  are  to  a  great  extent  a  backward  people  who 
need  an  object  lesson  in  modern  ideas  and  ideals.  They  would 
be  willing  to  help  themselves  later  on,  at  which  time  they  can 
be  taught  the  value  of  these  moral  and  industrial  activities." 

Ten  full  days  in  the  capital  gave  me  just  the  time  I  needed 
so  when  I  boarded  the  U.  S.  Supply  Ship  "Kittery"  I  felt  that 
I  had  finished  up  all  that  I  had  on  my  program  to  accomplish. 

Altogether  the  most  modern  community  in  Santo  Domingo 
is  the  great  sugar  central  of  La  Romana.  The  town,  with  its 
large  factory,  the  warehouses,  the  offices  and  the  trim  bunga- 
lows of  the  officials  and  of  the  seventy-five  or  more  American 
employees,  looks  like  a  little  bit  of  the  United  States  set  down 
in  the  tropics.  The  whole  represents  an  investment  of  $6,000,- 
000  and  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  modern  sugar  estates 
on  the  Island.  The  company  owns  a  plantation  of  100,000 
acres  carefully  plotted  in  100  acre  lots  and  close  account  is 
kept  of  each  plot  as  to  its  fertility  and  yield.  Part  of  the  land 
is  set  aside  for  grazing,  and  a  fine  herd  of  blooded  cattle  is 
maintained.  The  native  laborers  are  paid  from  90  cents  to 
$1.50  per  day,  according  to  the  average  of  work  accomplished. 
A  splendid  boarding  club  is  maintained  for  the  single  Amer- 
ican employees  and  a  young  woman  from  Boston  teaches  the 
little  group  of  American  children  in  the  colony. 

The  sugar  company  employs  200  Porto-Rican  ex-police- 
men to  guard  their  plantation  and  factory.  The  murder  of 
two  American  engineers  by  bandits  two  years  ago  caused  a 
panic  among  the  other  workers  from  the  United  States,  ami 
this  precaution  is  felt  necessary  to  insure  the  safety  of  the 
foreigners  as  well  as  of  the  property.  A  force  of  Marin 
also  on  constant  guard. 


San  Pedro  de  Macoris  (45  miles  cast  of  Santo  Domingo 
City),  is  one  of  the  most  modern  towns  of  the  Republic  a  - 

as  one  of  the  three  chief  seaports.  Until  1885  it  was  only  a 
small  fishing-  village.  Then  the  investment  of  foreign  capital 
in  the  sugar  industry  began  to  make  the  place  the  flourishing 
little  city  that  it  is  today.  In  contrast  to  the  disorder  and 
dilapidation  of  many  older  and  more  picturesque  town-  on 
the  Island,  San  Pedro  has  pretty,  modern  houses,  good  streets, 
a  neat  main  plaza  and  modern  docking  facilities. 

On  the  peninsula  of  Samana  is  an  American  negro  colony 
that  was  settled  long  before  the  Civil  War  in  the  United 
States.  Few  of  the  original  colonists  survive,  but  their  chil- 
dren speak  English,  and  many  are  still  faithful  to  the  little 
Methodist  Church  which  has  existed  among  them  from  the 
beginning  of  the  settlement. 

Owing  to  the  courtesy  of  the  Government  I  was  able  to 
save  much  time  in  visiting  the  northern  section  of  the  coun- 
try by  taking  passage  to  Puerto  Plata  on  a  government  trans- 
port. From  Puerto  Plata,  I  found,  mirable  dictu — a  railroad 
^jto  take  me  over  to  Santiago.  There  I  met  the  Secretary  of 
the  Commission  of  Training  Camp  Activities,  who  agreed 
to  risk  the  trip  with  me  to  Cap  Haitien  and  Port-au-Prince 
in  his  Ford.  So,  in  spite  of  rain  and  bandits  and  all  people 
had  told  me,  I  got  a  little  look  in  at  Haiti,  as  well  as  the  towns 
of  Northern  Santo  Domingo  before  I  took  the  Clyde  line  boat 
from  Puerto  Plata  for  New  York. 

Puerto  Plata  is  the  most  important  port  on  the  northern 
shore  of  Santo  Domingo.  It  has  at  present  about  15,000  people. 
Its  streets  were  planned  by  Columbus,  the  earliest  settlement 
here  being  in  1499.  In  1543  it  was  attacked  by  pirates  and 
drifted  into  decay  afterward.  In  order  to  stop  smuggling  the 
Spanish  Government  completely  destroyed  the  town  in  the 
early  part  of  the  16th  century.  A  hundred  years  later  it  was 
again  built  up,  receiving  with  Monte  Cristi  the  privileges  of 
a  free  port.  It  is  now  a  modern  town,  compared  with  the 
other  Dominican  municipalities,  with  clean,  paved  streets, 
electric  lights  and  some  very  good  architecture,  including  the 
new  custom  house.     The  main  plaza  is  very  attractive. 

I  found  the  northern  part  of  the  Island  more  progressive 
than  the  southern,  with  a  larger  percentage  of  white  blood. 

Puerto  Plata  is  one  of  the  two  ports  of  Santo  Domingo 
that  boasts  of  a  railroad  into  the  interior.  This  road,  a  tiny 
narrow  gauge,  runs  up  over  the  mountains  to  Santiago,  41 
miles  distant,  and  lately  has  been  extended  sixteen  miles 
further  to  Moca.    This  is  one  of  the  steepest  roads  in  existence, 

10 


the  grade  being-  at  some  points  as  much  as  11  per  cent.  It 
was  started  by  Belgian  capital,  but  was  afterward  taken  over 
by  Americans  and  is  now  owned  by  the  Dominican  Govern- 
ment. There  is  a  passenger  train  every  other  day,  which  is 
pulled  up  over  the  mountain  by  a  powerful  little  engine,  mak- 
ing the  41  miles  in  not  much  over  three  hours.  As  I  did  not 
want  to  wait  a  day  longer,  the  obliging  American  agent  gave 
me  a  complimentary  passage  over  on  the  freight  car,  in  com- 
pany with  a  United  States  Marine  mail  carrier,  who  enlivened 
the  trip  from  6:30  A.  M.  to  1  P.  M.  with  stories  of  the  glories 

of  the  Marines  and  the  "rottenness  of  this  here country." 

Santiago  is  the  second  city  of  the  Dominican  Republic. 
No  one  knows  how  many  inhabitants  there  are  anywhere  in 
the  island  but  Santiago  is  estimated  by  the  most  careful 
authorities  as  having  about  20,000  people.  It  is  compactly 
built,  clean  and  attractive.  The  people  have  an  air  of  busi- 
ness about  them,  at  least  in  comparison  with  the  inhabitants 
of  other  towns  I  had  visited.  The  Hotel  Garibaldi  might 
be  termed  the  "best  in  the  Republic"  as  it  has  an  annex  which 
puts  it  a  bit  past  the  Frances  of  the  Capital.  As  life  is  entirely 
in  the  open  here,  the  air  is  preferable  to  locking  your  room 
against  thieves  who  do  not  seem  to  exist  in  the  towns.  The 
meals  are  very  good  from  the  standpoint  of  Dominican  cook- 
ing, which  means  plenty  of  meat  and  oils.  While  fruit  is 
plentiful  and  cheap,  an  aguacate  or  "alligator  pear"  which 
would  cost  in  Xew  York  seventy-live  cents  selling  here  for  two 
cents,  yet  one  must  buy  his  fruit  extra  as  a  general  thing. 
This  is  because  it  is  not  customary  in  most  of  Latin  America 
to  eat  fruit  at  meals. 

Santiago  has  little  of  historic  interest,  since  earthquakes 
have  destroyed  all  of  the  older  part  of  the  city.  There  are 
no  buildings  of  architectural  importance.  The  central  plaza, 
as  usual,  is  flanked  by  the  Cathedral,  the  State  and  Municipal 
palaces  and  commercial  buildings.  There  are  two  good  clubs 
in  the  city,  to  which  the  best  people  belong,  one  of  them  having 
a  most  attractive  building  tricing  the  pla/.a.  It  is  open  on  all 
sides,  and  evidently  arranged  principally  for  dancing  and  for 
sitting  about  tables  to  talk  and  drink.  Aside  from  the  im- 
mense floor  space  dedicated  to  the  matters  mentioned,  there 
are  shower  baths  and  a  library  with  probably  a  hundred 
heavy  volumes  and  a  dozen  periodicals.  There  are  few  "privi- 
leges" therefore  connected  with  the  club,  but  social  i  I 
There  are  no  athletic  grounds  of  any  kind  and  no  orgai 
sports  in  Santiago,  a  need  which  is  likewise  unmet  in  all  other 
Dominican  towns. 

n 


As  is  always  my  custom  in  passing  a  public  building  in 
Latin  America,  I  went  in  to  visit  the  club  and  take  a  chance 
on  making  some  interesting  acquaintance.  The  first  gentle- 
man whom  I  met  took  great  interest  in  showing  me  around 
the  club  and  giving  me  detailed  information  about  the  city. 
He  then  introduced  me  to  a  young  dentist  who  has  recently 
graduated  from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  This  young 
man  took  me  first  to  a  private  hospital  conducted  by  a  young 
physician  who  took  his  training  in  Belgium  and  has  built,  out 
of  the  funds  made  from  his  practice,  one  of  the  prettiest  and 
best  arranged  private  hospitals  I  have  ever  seen,  with  operat- 
ing room,  X-ray  apparatus  and  seemingly  all  modern  equip- 
ment. He  is  now  beginning  the  enlargement  of  the  plant  from 
a  single  story  with  ten  private  rooms  to  a  three-story  build- 
ing. He  has  a  large  clinic  every  day,  charging  four  dollars 
to  each  patient  who  attends  the  clinic  and  has  a  prescription 
filled.  There  is  a  hospital  being  built  by  the  "Board  of  Char- 
ities" of  the  city,  which  is  an  organization  that  administers 
the  funds  of  the  lottery  that  are  destined  for  charity.  This  is 
to  be  a  fifty-bed  hospital  but  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of 
delay  in  finishing  the  building  and  it  is  not  sure  of  having 
any  kind  of  support.  All  of  the  public  hospitals  of  the  Island, 
such  as  they  are,  are  entirely  dependent  on  the  lotteries  for 
support,  as  are  all  the  other  eleemosynary  institutions.  The 
Military  Government  is  now  considering  measures  to  abolish 
the  lotteries,  but  it  is  very  evident  that  this  cannot  be  done 
until  some  way  is  found  to  finance  these  institutions. 

Near  Santiago  lies  the  most  famous  and  the  richest  of  all 
Dominican  Valleys,  which  was  christened  by  Columbus  "La 
Vega  Real,"  the  Royal  Plain.  The  finest  view  of  this  great 
plain  is  secured  from  the  summit  of  "El  Santo  Cerro,"  the  high 
hill  on  the  top  of  which  Columbus  erected  a  cross,  which  was 
miraculously  sustained  when  the  Indians  attacked  him  at  this 
point  and  were  repulsed  when  they  saw  the  Holy  Virgin  her- 
self sustaining  the  Cross.  We  climbed  the  steep  ascent  in 
our  Ford, — modern  desecration  of  an  ancient  shrine — and  look- 
ed out  over  one  of  the  most  impressive  stretches  of  rich 
tropical  growth  visible  in  any  part  of  the  world.  The  deep 
green  foliage  is  relieved  here  and  there  by  the  brown  fields 
of  cultivated  cocoa,  coffee,  or  tobacco  and  silver  threads  mark 
the  course  of  several  rivers,  winding  away  toward  the  sea, 
fifty  miles  distant.  Moca,  La  Vega  and  even  San  Francisco 
de  Macoris  are  easily  discovered,  and  far  to  the  north  are  the 
lofty  mountains  of  Monte  Cristi,  one  peak  of  which  reaches 
an  elevation  of  nearly  10,000  feet. 

12 


Santiago  boasts  two  daily  papers,  both  published  in  the 
afternoon,  because,  as  a  gentleman  explained  to  me,  "after- 
dinner  people  would  like  to  read  a  bit,  but  in  the  morning  they 
would  be  entirely  too  busy."  From  the  number  of  people  sit- 
ting around  in  the  plaza,  the  stores  and  other  places  discussing 
such  exciting  subjects  as  I  overheard,  as  to  whether  a  man 
is  better  off  married  or  single,  as  to  whether  the  law  or  medi- 
cine offers  more  attractions,  etc.,  one  would  think  that  some 
time  might  be  snatched  from  the  whirl  of  business  to  glance 
over  the  headlines  of  a  morning  paper.  Since  political  sub- 
jects are  taboo  for  the  press,  the  chief  interest  of  Latin-Amer- 
icans must  go  untouched.  The  newspaper  men  tell  me  that 
it  is  really  hard  to  find  anything  to  put  in  their  papers  and 
that  their  subscriptions  are  falling  off.  The  contents  of  all 
papers  have  to  be  submitted  to  the  government  censorship  be- 
fore publication.  I  was  interested  to  see  three  pages  of  the 
daily  of  Puerto  Plata  given  to  the  publication  of  material  on 
Panamericanism  which  had  been  furnished  by  the  Committee 
on  Co-operation  in  Latin  America. 

News  down  here  is  certainly  scarce.  The  British  Consul 
in  the  Capital  said  that  he  had  a  hard  time  making  his  gov- 
ernment realize  that  it  is  further  in  time  from  Puerto  Plata 
to  the  Capital  than  it  is  from  London  to  New  York.  But 
this  is  an  actual  fact  since  there  is  no  road  across  the  Island. 
Imagine  the  Consul's  feelings  when,  during  the  war  his  gov- 
ernment informed  him  that  they  could  not  make  arrangements 
very  easily  to  have  him  receive  the  daily  war  news  by  cable, 
on  account  of  the  high  cost  of  cable  service  to  Santo  Domingo, 
but  they  would  have  the  news  mailed  to  him  from  Havana. 
It  may  look  like  a  short  distance  on  the  map,  but  the  truth 
is  he  could  get  mail  quicker  from  London  than  from  Havana. 

I  visited  the  office  of  "El  Diario,"  and  had  an  interesting  talk 
with  several  literary  lights.  Being  newspaper  men  they  may 
have  been  "talking  for  publication"  when  they  praised  the 
American  occupation  and  the  fine  work  that  was  being  done, 
the  advancement  of  business,  the  development  of  schools,  etc. 
since  the  country  was  able  to  have  a  little  breathing  spell  from 
revolution.  Yet  this  is  the  testimony  that  one  gets  pretty  gen- 
erally. It  is  hard  to  tell  how  much  of  it  represents  fear  of 
getting  the  ill  will  of  the  authorities  and  how  much  is  due  t<> 
real  conviction.  But  there  is  no  question  that  the  business  men 
greatly  appreciate  knowing  that  they  are  safe  in  ordering  goods 
and  in  counting  on  continued  ability  to  do  business.  This  is 
something  that  the  country  has  not  known  from  the  time  it 

13 


was  a  Spanish  colony  until  the  American  occupation  in  1916. 

Is  the  fact  of  this  security,  coupled  with  a  substantial 
advance  in  primary  education,  and  improvements  in  roads, 
harbors  and  other  material  matters,  a  fair  return  for  submit- 
ting to  a  foreign  military  government?  The  Dominicans  raised 
a  fund  and  sent  their  deposed  President  to  the  Peace  Con- 
ference at  Paris  to  say  the  price  was  too  great,  and  to  ask  for 
relief.  The  protest  of  the  Spaniards  referred  to  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  chapter  was  no  doubt  due  to  Presi- 
dent Henriquez's  work.  He  has  since  visited  the  United 
States  on  the  same  mission  of  protest  and  no  doubt  will  meet 
with  sympathy  as  he  travels  voicing  this  plea.  The  arrange- 
ment that  most  Dominicans  seem  to  prefer  is  not  like  the  one 
we  have  with  Haiti,  but  similar  to  the  one  with  Cuba,  whereby 
we  may  intervene  to  restore  order  when  necessary. 

The  work  of  the  Marines  in  Santo  Domingo  deserves  a 
great  deal  more  notice  than  it  has  received.  Most  of  the  en- 
listed men  there  now  went  in  only  for  the  duration  of  the  war, 
and  are  greatly  dissatisfied  at  not  getting  back  home.  The 
bandit  situation  in  the  interior  is  very  bad  and  seemingly 
getting  no  better,  and  more  men  are  needed.  Some  men  have 
been  up  in  the  hills,  chasing  bandits,  sleeping  on  their  guns 
and  hiking  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  miles  a  day  for  a  year 
or  more.  None  of  our  men  in  France  have  been  called  upon 
to  go  through  the  privations  which  these  men  up  in  the  bandit 
country  have  suffered,  away  from  all  civilized  communities, 
never  seeing  a  white  woman,  or  a  book,  or  a  home,  or  receiv- 
ing any  ennobling  influence.  It  is  hard  enough  on  the  men 
in  the  centers  where  there  are  generally  clubs  with  once  in  a 
while  a  motion  picture  and  a  new  magazine.  But  the  men 
who  are  actively  campaigning  in  the  rough,  bandit-infested 
interior  of  Santo  Domingo  deserve  our  deepest  sympathy. 

What  is  our  duty  toward  Santo  Domingo?  Here  is  one 
of  the  most  fertile  countries  in  the  world.  Fifteen  crops  of 
cane  can  be  reaped  from  one  planting,  whereas  in  Porto  Rico 
it  must  be  planted  every  year  and  in  Cuba  every  three  years. 
Great  fields  of  cocoa,  cocoanut  palms,  tobacco,  sugar  cane, 
bananas,  mangoes  and  aguacates  are  continually  passed  on  the 
country  roads.  Mahogany,  gold,  petroleum  and  many  other 
riches  exist  in  abundance.  Yet,  some  95  per  cent  of  the  people 
are  unable  to  read  and  write ;  the  interior  of  the  country  is 
practically  unknown  ;  many  country  people  are  unable  to  count 
above  four  or  five ;  disease  is  widespread  with  practically  no 
medical  attention  for  the  poor  and,  in  general,  the  blessings 
of  Christian  civilization  are  lacking. 

14 


CHAPTER  II 

HISTORY— GOVERNMENT— AMERICAN 
OCCUPATION 

Santo  Domingo  is  almost  as  unknown  to  the  outside  world 
today  as  it  was  when  discovered  by  Columbus,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  it  is  the  second  largest,  the  richest  and  the 
most  fertile  of  the  Antilles;  that  it  was  the  seat  of  the  first 
European  settlement  in  the  New  World;  that  its  capital  is 
the  oldest  European  city  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  and 
that  within  its  borders  repose  the  bones  of  Columbus  him- 
self. It  may  well  be  called  "The  Island  Where  Time  Has 
Stood  Still,"  for,  with  all  its  beauties  and  the  richness  of  its 
natural  resources,  much  of  it  is  as  primitive  and  crude  as  in 
the  days  of  the  first  Spanish  settlement  four  hundred  years 
ago. 

Nowhere  is  the  rise,  decline  and  fall  of  Spanish  Colonial 
power  so  vividly  exemplified  as  in  Santo  Domingo  with  its 
history  teeming  with  great  names  and  with  deeds  now  bloody, 
now  paltry,  with  conquest  and  quarrels,  discovery  and  piracy. 
with  exploits  and  exploitation,  slavery  and  revolution.  No- 
where was  there  builded  into  the  foundations  of  the  civil  struc- 
ture that  love  of  home,  of  popular  education  and  of  equality 
before  the  law  that  have  given  to  the  United  States  what- 
ever of  stability  its  institutions  may  boast.  Religious  zeal 
was  there,  but  it  was  exotic  and  misguided,  seeking  its  finest 
expression  in  a  monasticism  that  contributed  little  more  than 
faint  intermittent  protests  against  the  general  decay  of  popular 
morals  caused  largely  by  the  brutal  exploiting  of  subject 
peoples  in  the  general  greed  for  riches  without   labor. 

Santo  Domingo  is  more  than  an  island  or  a  Republic.  It 
is  a  monument,  an  object  lesson  in  modern  history  of  the 
ancient  truth  that  "Righteousness  exalteth  a  nation"  and  that 
"Sin  is  a  reproach  to  any  people."  Of  course,  the  Island  is 
not  alone  in  this  rather  unenviable  distinction.  All  lands,  all 
histories,  speak  constantly  of  reward  and  of  retribution:  Bui 
about  the  crumbling  walls  of  that  ancient  colonial  capitol, 
Spain's  first  proud  citadel  in  the  New  World,  seem  to  1- 
more  than  elsewhere  the  flavor  of  mortality,  the  lesson  of 
the  strength  of  the  meek  and  the  futility  of  force. 

18 


The  tall  galleons  weighed  anchor  and  sailed  away  gorged 
with  chests  of  doubloons  and  with  silver  altar  rails,  only  to 
fall  easy  prey  to  the  hardy  buccaneers  of  Elizabeth's  despised 
island  kingdom.  Governors  and  Viceroys  gained  power  and 
cast  their  chain-laden  rivals  into  slimy  dungeons  only  in  turn 
to  bow  to  the  headsman's  axe;  while  all  the  time  the  lives 
of  scores  of  thousands  of  slaves,  Indians  and  Negroes,  were 
cruelly  ground  out  in  the  mines  and  on  the  plantations  of  the 
Conquistadores.  This  is  the  background  to  the  bloody  story 
of  Hispaniola.  It  explains  to  some  extent  her  present  social 
instability.  Romance  is  there,  but  the  blood  that  cries  out 
from  her  fertile  ground  demands  justice  and  a  new  spirit 
of  brotherhood  and  service. 

Santo  Domingo  is  surpassed  in  historic  monuments  by 
none  of  the  West  Indies.  Her  capital  city  boasts  of  being 
the  burial  place  of  Columbus.  Some  years  ago  it  was  thought 
that  his  bones  had  been  sent  to  Europe,  but  later  excavations 
made  it  clear  that  some  mistake  had  been  made,  for  the  original 
relics  of  the  great  discoverer  were  unearthed  from  the  solid 
masonry  of  the  walls  of  the  cathedral  where  he  was  known  to 
be  buried.  This  happened  in  the  course  of  some  repair  work 
on  the  building.  The  city  was  also  the  scene  of  a  tragic  in- 
cident in  the  life  of  the  great  Genoese,  his  imprisonment.  The 
ruins  of  this  prison  can  still  be  seen.  Accused  of  abusing  his 
authority,  he  was  cruelly  confined  in  this  wretched  old  fortress 
as  a  reward  for  having  discovered  the  Western  World  and 
bringing  to  Spain  the  possessions  that  for  a  time  made  her  the 
dominant  power  in  Europe. 

After  the  time  of  Columbus,  his  successors  neglected  the 
island  colony  and  about  1630  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  French 
buccaneers  whose  lodgment  there  was  confirmed  by  treaty 
in  1697.  Their  rule  was  not  agreeable  to  the  natives  and 
the  slaves,  and  there  were  numerous  uprisings  during  the  next 
two  centuries,  which  finally  resulted  in  independence  being 
established. 

The  early  history  of  the  colony  was  one  of  almost  con- 
tinuous struggle,  either  internal  or,  with  the  buccaneers, 
until  July  22,  1775,  when  the  Spanish  portion  of  the  island 
was  ceded  to  the  French  who  had  already  taken  possession  of 
the  western  portion.  French  control  lasted  until  July  11, 
1809,  when  Spain  took  advantage  of  the  disturbed  state  of 
the  country  and  secured  the  surrender  of  the  capital  city  to 
Don  Juan  Sanchez  Ramirez,  who  proclaimed  the  re-incorpora- 
tion of  the  country  into  Spain.  This  state  of  affairs  continued 
until  1821,  when  the  Dominicans  constituted  themselves  into 

16 


a  republic,  as  a  part  of  the  domain  lately  created  by  Bolivar. 
The  next  year,  Boyer,  President  of  Haiti,  having  dis- 
covered a  clause  in  the  constitution  of  Haiti  declaring  the 
island  to  be  one  and  indivisible,  invaded  the  Dominican  por- 
tion of  the  island  and  held  it  until  1844,  when  the  Dominican 
section  had  gathered  sufficient  headway  in  unrest  to  reassert 
its  independence  and  establish  the  Dominican  Republic. 

Spain  again  secured  a  foothold  in  the  island  when,  in  1861, 
by  means  of  a  plebiscite  which  Dominicans  assert  was  not 
fairly  conducted  and  by  diplomatic  negotiations,  she  re-estab- 
lished her  authority  and  maintained  it  during  a  period  of  four 
years.  The  country  was  then  again  separated  from  Spain 
and  has  ever  since  struggled  with  many  difficulties,  but  as 
a  free  and  sovereign  state. 

In  1869  there  was  a  strong  sentiment  in  the  Republic  for 
annexation  to  the  United  States.  This  culminated  in  that 
year  in  a  movement  in  the  United  States  to  annex  the  island. 
President  Grant  himself  being  one  of  its  strongest  supporters 
and  making  it  the  subject  of  a  message  to  Congress  in  1870. 
He  urged  the  immediate  acquisition  of  the  island  on  the  ground 
that  the  United  States  needed  it  to  prevent  the  establishment 
of  a  naval  base  there  by  some  foreign  power,  and  because  it 
commanded  the  sea  approaches  to  the  great  trade  channels 
that,  even  in  Grant's  day,  were  expected  to  center  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  Panama  Canal.  He  also  favored  complying 
with  the  request  for  annexation  on  account  of  the  intrinsic 
richness  of  the  island  itself  which  "will  give  remunerative 
wages  to  tens  of  thousands  of  laborers  not  now  upon  the  island. 
This  labor  will  take  advantage  of  every  means  of  transporta- 
tion to  maintain  commerce  with  the  adjacent  islands,  and  scek 
the  blessings  of  freedom  and  its  sequence — each  inhabitant 
receiving  the  reward  of  his  own  labor."  In  his  message  to 
Congress,  President  Grant  said : 

"The  acquisition  of  Santo  Domingo  is  desirable  because  of  its 
geographical  position.  It  commands  the  entrance  to  the  Caribbean 
Sea  and  the  Isthmus  transit  of  commerce.  It  possesses  the  richest 
soil,  the  most  capacious  harbors,  most  salubrious  climate  and  the 
most  valuable  products  of  the  forests,  mines  and  soil  of  all  the  West 
Indies  Islands.  Its  possession  by  us  will  in  a  few  years  build  up  a 
coastwise  commerce  of  immense  magnitude,  which  will  go  far  toward 
restoring  to  us  our  lost  merchant  marine.  It  will  give  to  us  these 
articles  which  we  consume  so  largely  and  do  not  produce,  thus  equal- 
izing our  imports  and  exports.  In  case  of  foreign  war  it  will  give  us 
command  of  all  the  islands  referred  to  and  thus  prevent  an  enemy 
from  ever  possessing  himself  of  rendezvous  on  our  very  coast.  Al 
present,  our  coast  trade  on  the  Atlantic  is  cut  by  the  Bahamas  and 
Antilles.  Twice  we  must,  as  it  were,  pass  through  fori 
to  get  by  sea  from  Georgia  to  the  west  coast  of  Florida. 

17 


These  remarks  and  others  show  President  Grant  to  have 
been  something  of  an  expansionist,  but  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  people  of  Santo  Domingo  had  themselves  requested 
such  annexation  such  an  attitude  seems  entirely  proper.  Con- 
gress, however,  for  various  political  reasons,  did  not  think  well 
of  the  proposal  and  the  proposition  was  defeated.  It  was  not 
until  a  few  years  ago  that  it  finally  became  necessary  for  the 
United  States  government  to  assume  responsibility  for  the 
turbulent  little  republic. 

From  the  time  of  its  discovery,  Santo  Domingo  has  been  a 
hotbed  of  turmoil  and  the  center  of  strife.  It  is  about  the  size 
of  Ireland,  and  has  caused  almost  as  much  trouble.  During 
Santo  Domingo's  seventy  years  of  national  life,  nineteen  con- 
stitutions have  been  promulgated,  and  there  have  been  forty- 
three  presidents,  but  three  of  whom  have  completed  terms  of 
office  for  which  they  had  been  elected.  Two  were  killed, 
twenty  deposed,  and  the  others  resigned  more  or  less  willingly. 

President  Baez  of  Santo  Domingo,  who  negotiated  for  an- 
nexation with  Grant,  succeeded  in  accomplishing  what  had 
been  the  dream  of  every  administration  since  the  birth  of  the 
republic — the  contracting  of  a  foreign  loan.  The  firm  of 
London  bankers  who  agreed  to  float  an  issue  of  Dominican 
bonds  so  mercilessly  fleeced  the  republic,  however,  that  the 
nucleus  of  the  enormous  debt  which  finally  led  to  American 
intervention  was  here  established.  Baez  was  forced  to  capit- 
ulate in  1873,  and  ten  years  of  anarchy  followed,  during  which 
time  these  bonds  were  defaulted.  Under  Heureaux  (a  despotic 
negro  who  was  dictator  from  1881  to  1889),  several  other  is- 
sues of  bonds  were  brought  out  and  allowed  to  default,  and  a 
large  foreign  and  internal  debt  piled  up,  which  was  increased 
by  ruinous  loans  to  which  the  succeeding  governments  were 
obliged  to  resort  during  the  years  of  civil  warfare  until  the 
country  was  in  a  hopeless  condition  of  bankruptcy. 

At  the  beginning  of  1904.  every  item  of  the  debt  had  been 
in  default  for  months.  Under  pressure  from  foreign  govern- 
ments, the  principal  debt  items  due  foreign  citizens  had  been 
recognized  in  international  protocols,  and  the  income  from 
each  of  the  more  important  custom  houses  was  specifically 
pledged  for  their  payment,  but  in  no  case  was  payment  made. 
Under  a  board  of  arbitration,  the  Santo  Domingo  Improve- 
ment Company,  an  American  corporation,  had  been  awarded 
the  custom  house  at  Puerto  Plata,  among  other  security,  for 
the  payment  of  the  amount  due  it  and  no  payment  being  made 
the  American  agent  demanded  compliance  with  the  terms  of 
the  award  and  on  October  20,  1904,  was  placed  in  possession  of 

18 


the  custom  house  at  Puerto  Plata.  The  other  foreign  credil 
principally  French,  Belgian  and  Italian,  naturally  began  to 
clamor  for  the  payment  of  their  credits  and  for  the  delivery 
of  the  custom  houses  pledged  to  them.  To  have  turned  them 
over  would  have  meant  absolute  ruin,  as  the  government 
would  have  been  entirely  deprived  of  means  of  subsistence,  and 
in  the  face  of  the  imminent  likelihood  of  foreign  intervention, 
the  Dominican  government  applied  to  the  United  States  for 
assistance.  In  February,  1905,  the  protocol  of  an  agreement 
with  the  United  States  was  drawn  up,  providing  for  the  col- 
lection of  Dominican  customs  revenues  under  the  direction  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  segregation  of  a  specified  portion 
toward  the  ultimate  payment  of  the  debt.  The  treaty  was 
submitted  to  the  United  Slates  Senate,  but  it  adjourned  with- 
out taking  final  action  upon  it,  and  it  was  necessary  to  arrange 
an  interim  modus  vivendi  (the  creditors  having  again  become 
importunate)  under  which  President  Roosevelt  appointed  a 
receiver  to  collect  the  customs  for  the  benefit  of  the  credil 

Internal  strife  still  prevailed,  however.  Morale-,  who  was 
president  at  this  time,  was  forced  to  resign  and  Caceres,  who 
succeeded  him,  was  assassinated  by  a  handful  of  malcontents 
in  1911  and  an  endless  succession  of  revolts  followed. 

Juan  Jimenez,  who  had  been  president  1899-1902,  was  elec- 
ted for  the  second  time  in  1914,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  a-  ii 
the  country  was  at  last  entering  upon  an  era  of  peace  and 
prosperity.  Strong  elements  of  disorganization  were  still 
present,  however,  and  in  1916  General  Arras,  a  chronic  revolu- 
tionist, suddenly  seized  the  military  control  of  the-  country  and 
issued  a  proclamation  by  which  he  practically  deposed  Jimenez 
and  assumed  the  executive  power  himself. 

This  endless  succession  of  revolts  had  at  length  exhausted 
the  patience  of  the  American  Government.  In  the  face  o\ 
another  gfeneral  war  with  its  attendant  destruction  of  life  and 

*  1 

property,  harm  to  American  and  other  foreign  interests  and 
danger  of  international  complications,  the  American  Govern- 
ment took  decisive  action.  With  the  consent  of  President 
Jimenez  it  landed  marines  from  several  ports  until  a  total  o\ 
1800  had  been  disembarked. 

Jimenez,  old  and  infirm,  did  not  feel  equal  to  the  task  oi 
guiding  his  country  through  impending  difficulties,  and  on  May 
6,  1916,  resigned  the  presidency.  The  Congress  in  July  elected 
a  temporary  president,  Francisco  Henriquez  Carvajal,  with  tin- 
understanding  that  he  would  hold  office  for  six  months  and 
would  not  seek  re-election  at  the  general  elections.  The 
United  States  Government  would  not  extend  recognition  un- 


less  assured  that  Santo  Domingo  would  enter  upon  a  path 
of  order  and  progress  and  deemed  its  task  uncompleted  if  it 
should  surrender  the  country  to  the  same  chaotic  conditions. 
It  accordingly  required  as  a  condition  of  recognizing  Hcn- 
riquez  that  a  new  treaty  between  the  countries  be  adopted, 
similar  to  the  one  recently  applied  between  the  United  States 
and  Haiti.  Henriquez  would  not  accede  to  the  American  de- 
mands, whereupon  the  American  authorities  declined  to  pay 
over  any  of  the  republic's  finances  to  the  government  which 
they  did  not  recognize.  Inasmuch  as  they  controlled  all  the 
revenues,  the  Henriquez  government  was  left  penniless. 
Nevertheless,  the  American  demands  continued  to  be  rejected. 
As  a  result,  no  salaries  were  paid  in  any  part  of  the  republic, 
the  officials  who  continued  in  office,  doing  so  in  the  hope  of 
being  compensated  later.  Some  services,  such  as  the  mail  ser- 
vice, were  discontinued  almost  entirely,  and  the  whole  machin- 
ery of  the  government  was  paralyzed.  The  tension  lasted  for 
several  months  and  as  the  term  for  which  Henriquez  had  been 
elected  drew  to  a  close  and  it  became  evident  he  did  not  intend 
to  retire,  but  to  hold  general  elections  in  which  he  expected 
to  be  the  successful  candidate,  the  American  government  de- 
termined to  break  the  deadlock,  and  on  November  29,  1916, 
Rear  Admiral  Knapp,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  issued  a 
proclamation  declaring  the  Dominican  Republic  under  the 
military  administration  of  the  United  States. 

"Whereas  a  treaty  was  concluded  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Republic  of  Santo  Domingo  on  February  8,  1907, 
article  3  of  which  reads: 

III.  Until  the  Dominican  Republic  has  paid  the  whole 
amount  of  the  bonds  of  the  debt,  its  public  debt  shall 
not  be  increased,  except  by  previous  agreement  be- 
tween the  Dominican  Government  and  the  United 
States.  A  like  agreement  shall  be  necessary  to  modify 
the  import  duties,  it  being  an  indispensable  condition 
for  the  modification  of  such  duties  that  the  Dominican 
Executive  demonstrate  and  that  the  President  of  the 
United  States  recognize  that,  on  the  basis  of  exporta- 
tions  and  importations  to  the  like  amount  and  the  like 
character  during  the  two  years  preceding  that  in 
which  it  is  desired  to  make  such  modification,  the 
total  net  customs  receipts  would  at  such  altered  rates 
of  duties  have  been  for  each  of  such  two  years  in 
excess  of  the  sum  of  $2,000,000  United  States  gold. 

"Whereas  the  government  of  Santo  Domingo  has  violated 
article  3  on  more  than  one  occasion  and 

"Whereas  the  Government  of  Santo  Domingo  has  from  time 
to  time  explained  the  violation  by  the  necessity  of  incurring 
expenses  incident  to  the  repression  of  revolution,  and 

20 


"Whereas  the  United  States  Government,  with  great  forbear- 
ance  and  a  friendly  desire  to  enable  Santo  Domingo  to  main- 
tain domestic  tranquillity  and  to  observe  the  terms  of  the 
aforesaid  treaty,  has  urged  upon  the  Government  of  Santo 
Domingo  certain  necessary  measures  which  that  Government 
has  been  unwilling  or  unable  to  adopt,  and 

"Whereas  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  deter- 
mined that  the  time  has  come  to  take  measures  to  assure  the 
observance  of  the  aforesaid  treaty  by  the  Santo  Domingan 
Republic  and  to  maintain  the  domestic  tranquillity  in  the  said 
Republic    of   Santo    Domingo    necessary   thereto, 

"Now,  Therefore,  I,  H.  S.  Knapp,  Captain  of  United  States 
Navy,  Commander  of  the  cruiser  force  of  the  United  States 
Atlantic  Fleet  and  the  armed  forces  of  the  United  States 
stationed  in  various  places  within  the  territory  of  the  Re- 
public of  Santo  Domingo,  acting  under  the  authority  and  by 
the  direction  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  declare 
and  announce  to  all  concerned  that  the  Republic  of  Santo 
Domingo  is  hereby  placed  in  a  state  of  military  occupancy 
by  the  forces  under  my  command,  is  made  subject  to  Military 
Government  and  to  the  exercise  of  military  law  applicable 
to  such  occupation. 

"The  military  occupation  is  undertaken  with  no  immediate  or 
ulterior  object  of  destroying  the  sovereignty  of  the  Republic 
of  Santo  Domingo  but  on  the  contrary  is  designed  to  give  aid 
to  that  country  in  returning  to  a  condition  of  internal  order 
that  will  enable  it  to  observe  the  terms  of  the  treaty  aforesaid 
and  the  obligations  resting  upon  it  as  one  of  the  family  of 
nations." 

There  follow  five  other  paragraphs,  stating-  that  the  courts 
will  not  be  disturbed,  revenues  will  be  paid  by  the  Receiver 
to  the  military  Government,  to  be  held  in  trust  for  the  Re- 
public, calling  on  all  to  co-operate  in  restoring  order,  and 
stating  that  the  United  States  forces  would  act  under  military 
law  governing  their  conduct,  all  signed  by  Commander  II.  S. 
Knapp,  on  the  U.  S.  S.  Olympia,  flagship,  November  29,  1916. 

The  military  government  so  established  took  full  po 
sion  of  the  country.    The  chiefs  of  the  executive  departments 
not  having  appeared  in  their  offices,  their  posts  were  dee 
vacant  and  filled  with  officers  of  the  American  Navy.     In  the 
country  at  large,  there  was  little  open  opposition,  ami  such  as 
appeared  was  suppressed  without  difficulty.    The  inhabitants 
quickly  reconciled  themselves  to  the  situation,  realizing  that 
it  was  to  the  best  interests  of  the  country.    Dr.  Henriquez 
left  for  Cuba. 

The  military  government  thereupon  proceeded  to  organize 
the  finances,  to  pay  arrears  of  salaries,  to  subdue  several 
bandits  who  refused  allegiance,  and   to  confiscate  all   arms. 

Order  and  security,  greater  than  have  prevailed  in  Santo 

21 


Domingo  .since  colonial  days,  were  soon  established.  The 
military  government  then  devoted  itsell  to  the  construction 
of  public  works,  especially  roads,  the  organization  of  a  police- 
force,  and,  in  general,  to  the  improvement  of  the  country. 

After  the  Washington  government  determined  to  partici- 
pate in  the  European  war,  the  American  military  governor  on 
April  17,  1917,  connected  Santo  Domingo  with  the  war  by 
canceling  the  exequaturs  of  the  German  consular  representa- 
tives in  the  Dominican  Republic.  There  was  no  formal  rup- 
ture as  no  diplomatic  representatives  of  either  country  were  at 
the  time  residing  in  the  other. 

The  Constitution  nominally  in  force  in  the  Republic  is  the 
one  revised  by  the  Legislature  in  1896,  which  establishes  that 
the  Government  shall  devolve  upon  three  distinct  powers, 
each  independent  from  the  other  in  the  discharge  of  their 
specific  duties.  These  three  powers  are:  The  Legislative 
Power,  or  Congress,  consisting  of  twenty-four  Deputies  or 
Representatives,  and  twelve  Senators  elected  by  the  people; 
the  Executive  Power,  under  the  President  of  the  Republic  and 
seven  Ministers,  or  Cabinet  Members  appointed  by  him  ;  and 
the  Judicial  Power  under  the  Supreme  Court  of  Justice. 

The  national  Congress,  which  meets  at  the  capital,  Santo 
Domingo,  is  composed  of  the  Senate  and  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  the  former  composed  of  twelve  members,  one  from 
each  Province,  and  the  latter  of  twenty-four  members,  or  two 
from  each  Province.  Senators  are  elected  by  indirect  vote 
for  a  term  of  six  years,  but  the  Senate  is  renewed  by  thirds 
every  two  years.  Deputies  are  also  elected  by  indirect  vote 
for  four  years,  and  the  Chamber  is  renewed  by  halves  every 
two  years.  Suffrage  is  free  to  all  male  citizens  over  eighteen 
years  of  age.  Congress  meets  annually  on  February  27th,  for 
a  period  of  ninety  days,  which  may  be  extended  for  sixty  days 
more. 

The  President,  assisted  by  a  Cabinet  of  seven  secretaries,  is 
the  executive  authority  of  the  Republic.  He  is  elected  for  a 
term  of  six  years  by  indirect  vote.  There  is  no  Vice-President. 
In  case  of  the  death  or  disability  of  the  President,  Congress 
designates  a  person  to  take  charge  of  the  executive  office.  The 
cabinet  consists  of  the  following  offices:  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  and  Police ;  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs ;  Secretary 
of  Treasury  and  Commerce ;  Secretary  of  War  and  Marine ; 
Secretary  of  Justice  and  Public  Instruction ;  Secretary  of 
Agriculture  and  Immigration;  Secretary  of  Fomento  (Promo- 
tion) and  Communications. 

The  chief  judicial  power  resides  in  the  Supreme  Court  of 

22 


Justice,  which  consists  of  a  president  and  six  justices  ch 
by  Congress,  and  one  Procurador  Fiscal   General  appointed 
by  the  executive,  serving  for  a  term  of  four  years,  and  sitting 
at  Santo  Domingo. 

The  territory  of  the  Republic  is  divided  into  12  judicial  dis- 
tricts, each  having  its  own  civil  and  criminal  tribunal,  and 
court  of  first  instance.  These  Districts  are  subdivided  into 
communes,  each  with  a  local  justice.  There  are  two  appeal 
courts,  one  at  Santiago  de  los  Caballeros,  and  the  other  at 
Santo  Domingo  City. 

For  administrative  purposes,  the  Republic  is  divided  into 
12  provinces,  which  are  subdivided  into  communes.  The 
Provinces  are  administered  by  governors  appointed  by  the 
President,  as  are  also  the  chief  executive  officers  of  the  other 
political  divisions. 

The  area  of  the  whole  Island  is  28,249  square  miles,  of 
which  the  Dominican  Republic  occupies  18,045  square  miles. 
The  greatest  width  of  the  Republic,  from  the  Morro  of  Monte 
Cristi  to  Cape  Beata,.is  about  170  miles;  the  greatest  length, 
from  Cape  Engaiio  to  the  Haitian  frontier,  about  260  miles. 
The  coast  line  is  about  940  miles  in  length. 

In  point  of  size,  the  Island,  including  both  Republics,  is 
second  in  the  West  Indies  only  to  Cuba,  being  about  one- 
fourth  larger  than  the  states  of  Vermont,  Massachusetts. 
Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  together,  about  as  targe  as 
Belgium,  more  than  double  the  size  of  Denmark,  and  a  trifle 
smaller   than   Ireland. 

For  the  Dominican  Republic,  it  is  impossible  to  get  offi- 
cial census  figures,  except  for  some  of  the  cities.  An  unoffi- 
cial estimate  made  in  1917  on  the  assumption  that  there  are 
1,000  inhabitants  for  every  2>7  births  reported,  calculated  the 
total  population  at  795,432.  According  to  one  writer  (Schoen- 
rich),  who  seems  to  be  well  informed,  a  reduction  of  10',  in 
this  figure  would  probably  be  more  nearly  correct.  <  m  this 
basis,  the  population  per  square  mile  would  be  about  40. 


S3 


CHAPTER  III 
COMMERCE— TRANSPORTATION— RESOURCES 

Transportation  throughout  the  interior  is  surprisingly  in- 
adequate, being  carried  on  by  means  of  limited  railway  lines, 
an  extensive  system  of  trails,  "navigable"  for  horses  and  oxen 
in  the  drier  seasons  of  the  year,  and  a  small  but  growing 
mileage  of  paved  roadways.  With  the  exception  of  250  miles 
of  privately-owned  railways  on  sugar  plantations,  all  of  the 
railroads  are  in  a  restricted  area  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
Republic. 

There  are  two  short  railway  lines,  the  Dominican  Central 
Railway  of  some  forty  miles,  which  connects  Puerto  Plata  with 
Santiago  de  los  Caballeros,  with  a  short  extension  to  Moca ; 
and  the  Samana  and  Santiago  Railroad,  which  extends  from 
Sanchez  to  La  Vega,  with  branches  to  San  Francisco  de 
Macoris  and  Moca.  This  latter  company  completed  a  seven- 
mile  branch,  in  1917,  which  connects  Salcedo  with  Moca,  and 
thus  connects  the  ports  of  Sanchez  and  Puerto  Plata.  The 
surprising  thing  is  that  there  is  no  railway  connection  between 
the  towns  on  the  north  and  the  southern  part  of  the  Island. 

In  several  of  the  larger  cities,  carriages  and  light  auto- 
mobiles can  be  hired,  but  at  very  high  figures,  and  these 
furnish  the  principal  means  of  communication  within  the  city 
and  with  other  places  so  far  as  the  roads  will  permit.  Be- 
tween Monte  Cristi  and  La  Vega,  there  is  said  to  be  a  regular 
automobile  line,  as  also  between  Santo  Domingo  City  and 
nearby  towns,  but  the  writer  was  unable  to  discover  them. 

Since  the  occupation  of  the  Republic  by  American  forces, 
it  has  been  the  policy  of  the  military  authorities  to  construct 
good  roads  as  fast  as  the  work  can  be  done  with  the  limited 
force  at  present  on  the  island.  This  is  slowly  resulting  in 
the  transforming  of  some  old  trails  formerly  feasible  only  to 
horsemen  into  modern  automobile  turnpikes  of  permanent 
construction.  Such  a  policy,  if  persisted  in,  cannot  fail  to 
have  a  good  effect  in  stimulating  interior  trade  and  communica- 
tion and  making  the  now  backward  districts  of  the  interior 
accessible  to  the  civilizing  influences  that  the  larger  cities  are 
capable  of  bringing  to  bear. 

24 


On  the  older  type  of  dirt  roads  there  is  communication 
by  oxcart  during  the  dry  reason,  and  in  the  arid  regions  such 
travel  is  possible  almost  all  the  year.  In  general,  however, 
recourse  must  be  had  to  the  horse  and  the  donkey.  Many 
travelers  claim  that  on  many  occasions  it  is  more  economical 
to  buy  horses  than  to  hire  them,  for  at  the  completion  of  the 
trip  there  is  no  difficulty  in  disposing  of  them.  Verrill 
adds,  "There  is  no  lack  of  trails  and  there  is  no  trouble  in 
finding  a  path  of  some  kind  leading  to  any  town  or  village  in 
the  republic,  but  he  who  essays  to  travel  overland  in  Santo 
Domingo  must  have  an  abundance  of  hardihood,  be  a  good 
horseman,  and  start  forth  with  determination  and  an  optimistic 
view  of  all  things.  He  will  need  them  before  he  reaches  his 
journey's  end."  Another  writer  says,  "A  trip  into  the  interior 
requires  a  good  horse,  a  strong  constitution  and  a  large  supply 
of  patience." 

As  in  most  of  the  West  Indies,  hotel  accommodations  are 
not  precisely  luxurious,  but  will  be  found  fairly  comfortable 
and  remarkably  hospitable  and  free  from  thievery.  In  every 
large  town  there  are  private  families,  both  native  and  foreign, 
who  are  glad  to  take  boarders.  In  Santo  Domingo  City  there 
are  several  acceptable  hotels,  the  "Frances"  being  the  best.  In 
Puerto  Plata,  the  "Europa,"  under  Italian  management,  is 
above  the  average  of  hotels  in  the  tropics.  The  "Ties  Anti- 
lias,"  a  Porto-Rican  hotel,  is  also  fair.  In  Santiago,  the 
"Garibaldi,"  also  managed  by  Italians,  is  the  best.  In  La 
Vega  there  is  little  to  choose  between  a  Spanish  place  called 
the  "Ayuso"  and  the  "Clemens,"  under  French  management 
The  rates  are  reasonable,  averaging  about  four  dollars  a  day. 
American  plan,  in  the  best  city  hotels. 

The  question  of  food  is,  in  most  parts  of  the  island,  of  far 
greater  importance  than  that  of  a  place  to  sleep.  In  many 
of  the  interior  districts  it  is  next  to  impossible  for  a  foreigner 
to  eat  the  native  food,  as  everything  is  cooked  in  oil.  In  the 
coastal  towns  the  food  is  usually  fairly  good,  but  in  the  interior 
it  is  often  best  to  employ  your  own  cook  and  purchase  your 
foodstuffs.  Food,  clothing  and  all  imported  articles  are  high, 
owing  to  the  exorbitant  import  duties. 

The  construction  of  highways  has  received  much  at  ten 
tion  from  the  government  during  the  past  year.  The  definite 
program  of  the  Department  of  Public  Works  to  connect  all 
the  principal  cities  of  the  country  by  means  of  well  built  roads 
and  to  traverse  the  island  from  Santo  Domingo  on  the  south 
shore  to  Monte  Cristi  on  the  north  by  a  permanent  and  well 

•:r. 


established  carretera,  proceeds  slowly,  but  surely.  It  will  be 
a  great  day  when  the  road  across  the  Island  is  completed. 

The  demand  in  important  cities  is  increasing  for  electric 
lighting  plants  and  for  water  and  sewage  system,  which  are 
few  indeed  up  to  the  present.  Many  business  concerns 
generate  their  own  electricity  by  an  imported  lighting  system, 
which  is  so  compact  that  it  can  be  moved  around  with  com- 
paratively little  difficulty. 

There  are  three  banking  institutions  of  major  importance : 
Porto  Rican,  i.e.  American,  British  and  Dominican.  The  In- 
ternational Banking  Corporation  of  New  York  established  a 
branch  in  Santo  Domingo  City  in  1917,  later  branches  in  San 
Pedro  de  Macoris,  Santiago  and  Puerto  Plata. 

The  Royal  Bank  of  Canada  has  branches  in  Santo  Domingo 
City,  San  Pedro  de  Macoris,  Sanchez,  Puerto  Plata  and 
Santiago,  while  the  Banco  Nacional,  incorporated  under  Domi- 
nican laws,  also  has  branches  in  these  cities. 

All  reported  satisfactory  progress  during  1917.  Their 
principal  functions  consist  in  making  advances  against  docu- 
ments, making  collections  and  selling  exchange.  Bank  de- 
posits do  not  serve  as  an  index  to  the  prosperity  of  the  coun- 
try. Neither  the  business  public  nor  people  generally  have 
been  educated  to  carry  their  liquid  wealth  or  to  deposit  in 
banks.  As  a  general  rule,  nearly  all  the  merchant's  capital 
is  converted  into  and  maintained  in  his  stocks,  and  business 
is  done  almost  entirely  on  a  system  of  long-time  credit. 

The  American  gold  dollar  is  the  standard  of  value.  United 
States  gold  and  silver  coins  and  paper  currency  are  in  circula- 
tion at  face  value,  and  constitute  the  principal  medium  of  ex- 
change. In  addition,  a  limited  amount  of  Dominican  coinage 
is  in  circulation,  the  peso,  and  some  fractional  currency,  which 
passes  current  at  rate  of  5  to  1. 

According  to  the  most  recent  figures  available  there  are  87 
post-offices  in  the  country;  also  60  telephone  offices,  and  690 
telephones  distributed  through  the  larger  cities.  1,175  miles 
of  telephone  wires  have  thus  far  been  laid.  These  telephone 
offices  also  serve  as  telegraph  stations.  The  telegraph  is  in 
operation  between  Santo  Domingo,  Puerto  Plata,  and  Santiago, 
from  Santiago  to  Monte  Cristi,  and  along  the  railway  from 
Sanchez  to  La  Vega,  with  a  total  mileage  of  352.  Submarine 
cables  belonging  to  the  same  company  connect  in  the  north 
Puerto  Plata  with  New  York  and  Porto  Rico,  and  in  the 
South  Santo  Domingo  with  Porto  Rico  and  Curagao. 

Two    small    wireless    stations   are    in    operation    at    Santo 

26 


Domingo  and  La  Romana  with  a  communicating  radius  to 
Porto  Rico,  and  another  small  apparatus  at  San  Pedro  dc 
Macoris  which  is  merely  used  for  local  purposes. 

CONSULAR  REPORT  OF  TRADE  CONDITIONS 

U.  S.  Consul  Clement  S.  Edwards  reports  that  the  commercial  and 
industrial  activities  of  the  Dominican  Repuhlic  for  the  year  1917,  not- 
withstanding the  abnormal  conditions  arising  from  the  world  war, 
showed  not  only  a  marked  increase  over  the  previous  year,  but  also 
the  continued  and  growing  prosperity  of  the  country. 

The  opening  up  of  several  new  sugar  estates  and  the  erection  of 
mills  and  other  necessary  buildings,  largely  increased  the  opportunity 
for  employment,  while  the  demand  for  cement,  structural  steel,  and 
other  building  material  added  greatly  to  the  volume  of  imports. 

Although  the  production  and  movement  of  sugar  fell  off  about 
15  per  cent  during  the  season,  commercial  conditions  in  the  south  or 
sugar  district  are  fair.  The  conditions  in  the  tobacco  district  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Santiago  are  prosperous.  The  ruling  prices  for 
tobacco  are  high,  and  consequently,  there  has  been  an  increase  in 
the  acreage  planted  for  1918.  Because  of  discrimination  in  regard 
to  freight  space,  cacao  dropped  to  five  cents  a  pound,  while  the  price 
in  New  York  was  from  twelve  to  thirteen  cents  a  pound.  Cacao  is 
exported  annually  to  the  value  of  approximately  $5,000,000,  but  as 
the  farmer  is  not  getting  the  cost  of  production,  general  conditions 
in   the  large  cacao  district  are  not  good. 

The  improvement  of  the  harbor  of  Puerto  Plata,  which  was  dredged 
to  a  depth  of  22  feet;  the  construction  of  a  re-enforced  concrete  wharf, 
which  extends  into  the  harbor  for  1,100  feet  and  has  a  re-enforced 
concrete  deck  96  feet  4  inches  wide  by  412  feet  in  length,  and  work 
upon  the  new  two-story  custom  house,  also  of  re-enforced  concrete 
and  located  on  the  wharf,  will  transform  this  northern  harbor  into 
one  of  the  best  equipped   ports   in   the   West    Indies. 

Progress  made  upon  the  handsome  custom  house  in  Santo  Domingo 
(which  has  since  been  completed),  dredging  of  the  harbor  at  San 
Pedro  de  Macoris,  the  building  of  many  highway  bridges,  the  con- 
struction of  miles  of  fine  oarretertu,  the  improvement  and  restoration 
of  some  of  the  public  buildings,  and  the  completion  of  plans  for  ex- 
tensive work  in  contemplation  signalized  the  labors  of  the  depart- 
ment during  the  year. 

Improvement  in  Agricultural  Methods 

The  Departamento  de  Fomento  y  Agricultura  directed  special  at- 
tention to  the  general  improvement  of  agricultural  conditions  in  the 

Republic.  A  capable  and  efficient  supervisor  of  agricuture  was  em 
ployed,  and,  under  sanction  of  a  decree  issued  by  the  military  . 
eminent,  accompanied  by  the  necessary  appropriation  of  funds,  an 
agricultural  experimental  station  was  established  about  1<>  miles  west 
of  the  city  of  Santo  Domingo  on  the  shores  of  the  Caribbean  and 
along  the  beautiful  earretera  which  leads  from  the  capital  city  in  that 
direction.  Land  has  been  cleared,  some  of  the  mosl  necessary  build- 
ings have  been  erected,  crops  of  various  kinds  have  been  planted,  and 
a  systematic  and  scientific  course  has  been  established  for  the  im- 
provement of  agricultural   methods.     The   intelligent   work   done   dur- 

27 


ins  the  few  months  which  have  elapsed  since  the  establishment  of 
this  station  has  transformed  the  tract  upon  which  it  is  located  into 
a  beautiful  and  prosperous  farm  that  strikingly  shows  the  agricul- 
tural possibilities  of  this  fertile  island.  Already  substations  have  been 
established,  and  competent  men  have  been  put  in  charge,  whose  duty 
it  is  to  advise  and  direct  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  people. 

Undeveloped  Resources 

Despite  its  early  fame  for  great  fertility  and  rich  mineral  re- 
sources, this  country,  unlike  its  neighboring  islands  to  the  east  and 
west,  has  remained  largely  undeveloped.  Nevertheless,  great  changes 
have  taken  place  in  the  last  few  years,  and  where  energy  backed  by 
capital  has  been  intelligently  applied  to  the  development  of  the  natural 
resources,  a  rich  profit  has  been  the  reward.  No  doubt  remains  in 
regard  to  the  fertility  and  the  agricultural  possibilities  which  con- 
stitute the  country's  chief  and  unfailing  source  of  wealth. 

There  was  but  little  activity  in  mining  shown  during  1917.  With 
the  exception  of  some  work  on  a  copper  mine  near  San  Cristobal, 
and  the  shipment  of  a  small  quantity  of  ore,  nothing  further  was 
done,  and  active  work  on  the  mine  was  temporarily  abandoned  dur- 
ing the  year.  However,  recent  comprehensive  investigations  con- 
ducted by  efficient  engineers  have  established  the  existence  of  rich 
mineral  deposits.  Renewed  interest  has  been  taken  in  the  production 
of  oil,  and  near  the  close  of  the  year,  active  operations  were  in  prog- 
ress near  Azua  on  the  southern  coast. 

The  conservation  of  the  great  forest  resources  of  the  Republic 
is  due  to  their  inaccessibility,  on  account  of  the  lack  of  roads.  The 
wealth  of  rare  hardwoods  and  rich  dyewoods  is  well  known,  and  fre- 
quent reports  have  been  published  calling  attention  to  the  mahogany, 
ebony,  lignum-vitae,  satinwood,  rosewood,  walnut,  and  other  valuable 
woods  for  which  the  region  is  noted.  Extensive  areas  of  pine  are 
also  to  be  found,  and  logwood  and  fustic  enter  into  the  country's  ex- 
ports of  dyewoods. 

The  Dominican  Republic  is  not  a  manufacturing  country.  To  a 
very  large  extent  it  depends  upon  its  imports  to  supply  its  wants. 
There  are,  however,  numerous  small  factories  whose  products  find  a 
ready  local  market.  These  factories  furnish  employment  to  a  con- 
siderable number  of  men.  Cigars,  cigarettes,  rum,  matches,  soap, 
hats,  boots  and  shoes,  boxes,  and  saddles  and  harness  are  the  most 
important  products. 

Sugar  and  Cacao  Leading  Crops 

The  leading  industry  of  the  country  is  the  cultivation  of  sugar 
cane  and  the  production  of  raw  sugar.  The  southern  part  of  the 
island  is  the  region  principally  devoted  to  this  industry,  and  there 
all  the  large  sugar  estates  are  located.  Sugar  to  the  value  of  $13,- 
386,463  was  exported  during  1917.  The  quantity  showed  an  increase 
of  8,856,419  kilos  over  the  preceding  year. 

Five  sugar  mills,  representing  an  investment  of  $4,000,000,  were 
in  process  of  construction  during  1917.  Improvements  and  new 
machinery  installed  in  existing  sugar  estates  represented  an  outlay 
of  $1,800,000.  Two  of  the  new  estates  are  located  at  Puerto  Plata 
and  one  each  at  La  Romana,  San  Pedro  de  Macon's,  and  Boca  Chica. 

After   sugar,   the    most   important  crop   is   cacao,   which   is   raised 

28 


chiefly    in    the    northern    Provinces.      The    product    is    known    in    the 
markets   of   the   world   as    Sanchez,    taking   its    name    from    the    port 
through  which  it  is  chiefly  exported.     The  value   of  cacao  exj 
during  1917  reached  $4,856,275,  more  than  $1,000,000  less  than  in  1916, 
although  the  quantity  exceeded  by  2,661,702  kilos  the  exports  of 
The  loss  was  due  to  a  heavy  drop  in  prices. 

Other  leading  products  are  honey,  coffee,  and  tobacco,  the  1917 
exports  of  the  last  named  reaching  the  value  of  $1,658,521. 

Renewed  interest  in  the  raising  of  cattle  became  apparent  during 
the  year,  owing  to  the  tranquil  conditions  prevailing  throughout  the 
country.  There  are  few  large  ranches  in  the  Republic,  but  nearly  all 
the  farmers  give  some  attention  to  cattle  raising.  Ilolsteins  and 
Porto  Ricans  are  the  principal  breeds. 

Steady  Progress  Made  in  Foreign  Trade 

The  consistent  and  steady  progress  made  by  the  Dominican  Re- 
public in  its  foreign  trade  during  the  past  dozen  years,  with  a  very 
considerable  and  constant  trade  balance  in  its  favor,  is  clearly  seen 
from  the  following  table,  which  sets  forth  the  value  of  the  imports 
and  exports,  together  with  the  aggregate  trade  and  trade  balance  of 
each  year  from   1905   to   1917,  inclusive: 

Imports  Exports  Total  Balance 

1905   $2,736,828  $6,896,098  $9,632,926  $4,159,270 

1910   6,257,691  10,849,623  17,107,314          4,591,932 

1915    9,118,514  15,209.061  24,327.575          6,090,547 

1916   11,664,430        21,527,873        33,192,303  {,443 

1917   17,581,844        22,444,580        40,026,394  4,8' ■- 

The  trade  of  the  Republic  for  1917  aggregated  $40,026,394,  an  in- 
crease of  $6,834,091  or  20.5  per  cent  over  the  previous  year,  SIS.' 
or  64.53  per  cent  over  the  year  1915,  and  $25,862,132  or  182.58  per  cent 
in  excess  of  the  year  1908. 

In  1917,  the  total  value  of  the  imports  was  $17,581,814.    The  share 
of  the  United  States  and  Porto  Rico  in  this  trade  was  $16,138,18! 
nearly  92  per  cent  of  the  whole.     The  imports  through  the  prii 
ports  of  the  Republic  in  the  order  of  their   importance   durn  g    1917 
were  as  follows:  Santo  Domingo,  $4,907,453;  San 

$4,462,470;     Puerto    Plata,    $3,757,441;     Sanchez,    $1,800,050;     and     La 
Romana,  $1,378,850. 

Transportation  Facilities 

Transportation  between  the  United  States  and  the  Dominican  Re- 
public is  supplied  by  the  Clyde  Steamship  Co..  which  1  •  '.lin- 
ers plying  regularly  between  New  York  and  the  principal  poii 
this  country,  carrying  passengers  and  freight  and  making  an  average 
of  one  complete  voyage  each  month.  In  addition,  this  company  has 
three  freight  steamers  plying  between  the  same  ports.  During  the 
sugar  seasons  additional  steamers  are  generally  chartered  to  take 
care  of  the  heavy  exports. 

The   Bull   Insular   Steamship    Co.   has    «  r   and    freight 

steamer   making   regular   weekly    voyages    between    San    Juan,    P.    R. 
and    Dominican    ports.      One    freight    and    pas  -earner    of   the 

Compahia   Naviera  de   Cuba,  plying   between    Cuban   and    Porto 
ports   and    making   the    voyage    one    each    three    we 

20 


Pedro  de  Macon's  and  Santo  Domingo  on  both  the  outward  and 
the  return  voyages.  The  Santo  Domingo  of  the  Compafiia  Xaviera 
Antillana,  which  carries  both  passengers  and  freight,  makes  a  v 
weekly  between  San  Juan,  P.  R.,  and  Santo  Domingo  and  San  Pedro 
de  Macon's.  The  Compagnie  General  Transatlantique  until  recently 
had  a  steamer  making  regular  voyages  between  Martinique  and  the 
Dominican  Republic  and  stopping  at  Porto  Rico. 

Although  there  are  no  steamship  connections  with  Gulf  ports,  there 
are,  in  addition  to  the  lines  mentioned  above,  several  schooners  mak- 
ing irregular  voyages  to  Dominican  ports,  and  three  steamers  of  an 
average  tonnage  of  1,000  tons  each,  operated  by  the  La  Romana 
Sugar  Estate  and  engaged  in  carrying  cane  from  La  Romana  to 
Guanica,  P.  R. 

While  foreign  vessels  may  engage  in  coastwise  trade  under  certain 
restrictions,  the  trade  is  chiefly  taken  care  of  by  a  considerable  fleet 
of  small  schooners  and  sailing  vessels.  A  small  Dominican  steamer 
plying  between   southern   ports  carries  passengers   and   freight. 

This  may  sound  as  though  steamship  transportation  was  fairly 
good.  If  so,  one's  mind  should  be  disabused  of  the  idea  immediately. 
The  outstanding  need  for  economic  development  is  transportation, 
both  within  the  Island  as  well  as  with  the  outside  world.  It  seems  a 
pity  to  have  to  go  to  New  York  to  get  to  Cuba,  for  example,  but  that 
is  usually  much  the  quickest  route.  Nothing  is  more  needed  than  a 
few  new  steamship  lines. 

Financial  Conditions  Satisfactory  During  1917 

The  financial  condition  of  the  Dominican  Republic  at  the  close  of 
1917  was  excellent.  According  to  the  report  of  the  general  receiver 
of  Dominican  customs,  the  Republic  has  never  had  such  a  pros- 
perous year,  the  total  amount  derived  from  customs  revenue  being 
$5,329,574,  thus  surpassing  by  far  all  previous  records  and  register- 
ing an  increase  of  $1,294,217,  or  32.07  per  cent,  above  the  year  1916. 

The  share  of  the  year's  receipts  paid  over  to  the  Dominican  Gov- 
ernment in  accordance  with  the  convention  was  $2,455,784,  an  average 
of  $204,649  per  month.  In  addition,  the  Dominican  Government  re- 
ceived from  internal  revenue  the  sum  of  $1,226,447.  These  revenues 
are  now  collected  under  the  direct  charge  of  a  special  deputy  general 
receiver,  who  is  also  charged  with  the  disbursement  of  the  Govern- 
ment budget. 

The  country  is  large,  considering  the  population,  and  is  rich,  fer- 
tile, and  undeveloped.  Railroads  are  to  be  built  and  equipped;  the 
timber  resources  are  to  be  tapped;  saw  mills  are  to  be  erected:  and 
modern  methods  of  agriculture  are  to  be  introduced,  for  which  all 
kinds  of  modern  agricultural  machines  will  be  needed.  The  demand 
is  constantly  increasing  in  the  important  cities  for  modern  electric 
lighting  plants  and  for  water  and  sewage  systems.  It  is  evident 
that  as  the  Republic  is  entirely  dependent  upon  its  import  trade  to 
supply  its  needs,  a  market  exists  here  for  every  class  of  commercial 
commodity. 

In  the  Dominican  Republic,  local  conditions  have  a  decided 
influence  on  the  climate,  causing  a  remarkable  variation  in 
the  time  of  the  two  seasons  common  to  the  tropics.  In  the 
south,  the  west  and  the  interior,  the  winter,  or  rainy  season, 

30 


generally    takes    place    from    April    to    November,   the   other 

months  being  the  dry,  or  summer  months,  while  in  th< 
section,  the  rainy  season  is  from  May  to  December. 

The  climate  of  Santo  Domingo  is  characterized  by  heat 
and  humidity.  It  is,  however,  tempered  and  rendered'  bear- 
able by  cooling  breezes  which  are  seldom  absent.  In  May  and 
June,  the  rains  are  apt  not  only  to  be  heavy,  but  are  accom- 
panied by  severe  thunder  and  electrical  displays. 

Being  a  mountainous  island,  the  readily  accessible  areas 
of  higher  elevation  afford  a  variety  of  temperature  conditions 
at  any  time  of  the  year  that  is  unusual  in  so  small  a  country. 
This  makes  it  possible  for  those  on  whom  a  continuously  hot 
climate  is  especially  severe,  to  obtain  temporary  relief  by 
brief  sojourns  in  higher  and  cooler  altitudes,  without  the 
necessity  of  long  journeys. 

The  Republic,  as  seen  from  the  sea,  presents  a  rugged  ap- 
pearance because  of  its  mountainous  condition.  Topographic- 
ally, the  country  consists  of  extensive  plains  and  broad,  fertile 
valleys,  surrounded  by  mountains  of  various  heights,  well 
irrigated  by  abundant  streams  and  rivers.  The  perennial 
verdue  of  the  mountains  and  luxuriant  vegetation  of  the  val- 
leys and  plains  show  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  which  only 
awaits  the  hand  of  man  to  yield  fabulous  riches. 

There  are  five  mountain  chains  stretching  throughout  the 
entire  length  of  the  island  in  a  general  direction,  from  east 
to  west,  dividing  the  country  into  valleys  and  plains.  The 
largest  of  the  mountain  chains  is  called  the  Cordillera  Central, 
traversing  the  country  from  east  to  west,  gradually  rising 
to  an  altitude  of  about  9,420  feet  above  the  sea  level.  This 
Central  range  starts  at  about  six  miles  from  the  eastern  ex- 
tremity of  the  island,  and  extends  some  218  miles  to  the  wot, 
the  highest  point  being  Loma  Tina.  These  ranges,  extending 
in  all  directions,  protect  the  Island  from  hurricanes,  and  their 
drainage   affords   constant   water  supply. 

Like  Cuba  and  unlike  Porto  Rico,  the  coastline  is  well 
indented  with  harbors  and  bays.  The  Samana  Bay  is  one  of 
the  most  imposing  in  the  world.  It  is  an  inland  sea  whose 
waters,  ever  smooth,  offer  commodious  shelter  to  all  the 
navies  of  the  world.  It  measures  about  forty  miles  from  east 
to  west,  and  fourteen  from  north  to  south.  Man/anillo  Bay, 
at  the  northern  extremity  of  the  Republic,  is  one  of  the  best 
in  the  island,  and  has  many  excellent  ports  and  anchors 
Pozas  being  considered   the  best  of  all,  both   on   account   of 

31 


its  depth,  allowing  vessels  of  the  heaviest  draft  to  anchor, 
and  because  of  its  tranquil  waters. 

To  the  scarcity  of  population  is  due  the  fact  that  many  of 
these  bays  and  ports  have  no  towns  of  any  importance  and 
no  traffic  facilities,  although  a  certain  trade  in  agricultural 
products  is  carried  on  through  them. 

Santo  Domingo  formerly  yielded  considerable  gold  and  silver. 
Shortly  after  the  time  of  Columbus,  as  much  as  $30,000,000 
worth  of  gold  and  silver  was  exported  from  the  Island  in  a 
single  year,  according  to  Spanish  writers.  The  valuable  re- 
port of  William  P.  Blake  to  Congress,  in  1871,  on  the  Miner- 
alogy of  the  Island  states  that  there  is  a  very  considerable 
gold-bearing  country  in  the  interior. 

Copper  is  also  found  in  commercial  quantity,  several  lodes 
being  worked  at  the  present  time.  Inmense  deposits  of  iron 
are  known  to  exist,  and  coal  and  petroleum  are  both  found 
in  considerable  quantities.  Salt,  alum,  gypsum,  platinum, 
mercury,  and  other  minerals  exist,  and  are  in  part  being  ex- 
ploited. 

From  an  agricultural  point  of  view,  the  country  may  be 
divided  into  three  districts  or  regions.  The  first  may  be  call- 
ed the  tropical  zone,  which  contains  the  fertile  fields  of  the 
low  lands ;  the  second  zone  contains  the  plains  of  the  stock- 
raising  belt,  where  abundant  pasture  of  different  kinds  grows 
freely,  and  the  third,  or  sub-tropical  belt,  consisting  of  high, 
cool  lands,  where  wheat  and  other  cereals  of  the  temperature 
zone  may  profitably  be  cultivated. 

The  lands  within  the  tropical  belt  have  the  richest  soil, 
measuring  from  four  to  six  feet  in  depth,  and  are  devoted  to 
the  cultivation  of  cacao,  as  the  long,  central  root  of  this  tree 
needs  a  rich,  deep  soil.  Part  of  the  tropical  belt  has  about  one 
foot  of  vegetable  soil,  and  is  particularly  adapted  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  sugar  cane,  bananas,  tobacco,  plantains,  rice,  corn, 
beans,  and  all  kinds  of  pulse  and  vegetables.  Notwithstanding 
this,  potatoes,  beans,  onions,  and  other  vegetables,  as  well  as 
cereals,  are  at  present  imported  from  abroad,  and  sold  at  ex- 
orbitant prices  in  the  local  markets. 

Sub-tropical  agricutural  lands  begin  at  an  altitude  of  1,500 
feet  above  the  sea  level.  Coffee,  wheat,  oats,  rye,  apples,  pears, 
strawberries,  and  other  fruits  of  sub-tropical  countries,  grow 
in  this  belt. 

The  sub-tropical  lands  occupy  at  least  one-tenth  of  the 
whole  territory  of  the  Republic.     The  Constanza   Valley  is 

32 


considered  the  best  of  the  Dominican  tablelands.  It  is  claimed 
that  wheat  enough  to  supply  the  home  need,  and  to  export 
can  be  raised  in  this  valley. 

It  has  been   estimated  that  there  exist  at  least  seventy- 
five  varieties  of  cereals,  legumes,  and  vegetables;  fifty  sp< 
of  fruits  of  all  kinds;  twelve  species  of  palms,  fifty  specif 
industrial  plants,  and  about  fifteen  different  kinds  of  pasture 
subdivided  into  an  endless  variety  of  species. 

Sugar  is  by  far  the  leading  agricultural  product  of  the 
Dominican  Republic.  The  extent  and  fertility  of  the  land- 
suitable  for  sugar  cane  cultivation  have  no  rival  in  any  of 
the  Antilles. 

Next  to  sugar  cane,  the  principal  agricultural  products  of 
the  country  are  bananas  and  plantains,  the  latter  being  about 
sixty  times  more  alimentary  than  wheat,  according  to  Hum- 
boldt. Dominican  coffee  is  also  excellent;  sugar  cane  thrives 
even  where  the  soil  is  scarcely  nine  inches  thick;  the  yucca, 
two  varieties  of  which  are  now  exported  to  Europe  for  the 
starch;  the  cocoanut,  also  exported,  whether  green  or  dried. 
in  which  latter  state  it  is  called  copra;  corn  which  yields 
from  three  to  four  crops  a  year,  and  jicama,  a  tuber  contain- 
ing a  larger  percentage  of  starch  than  any  other  plant.  Among 
the  fruits,  besides  the  bananas  and  plantains,  are  excellent 
oranges  and  pineapples,  which  are  exported  without  special 
precautions.  Other  delicious  tropical  fruits,  such  as  mangoes, 
alligator  pears,  sapodilla,  and  many  others,  cannot  be  export 
ed  unless  carried  in  special  refrigerators. 


33 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  PEOPLE  AND  THEIR  SOCIAL  PROBLEMS 

Racially  the  people  of  the  Dominican  Republic  are  of 
Spanish  descent,  some  pure  white,  others  mixed  with  negro 
blood,  others  with  an  admixture  of  Indian,  and  still  others 
carrying  the  racial  inheritance  of  all  three  of  these  races. 
While  the  pure  black  or  nearly  black  negro  is  far  less  in 
evidence  than  in  Haiti,  yet  numerically  there  are  many  negroes 
in  the  republic.  Haiti  retains  its  uniform  blackness  to  a  re- 
markable extent,  but  in  the  Dominican  Republic  the  racial 
mixture  is  very  complete,  and  your  typical  citizen  may  ex- 
hibit the  predominant  characteristics  of  either  the  white, 
the  black  or  the  red  men. 

Along  the  coast  and  on  the  plantations  there  are  many 
negroes  from  Turks  Island,  the  Bahamas,  Jamaica  and  the 
other  West  Indies;  while  at  Monte  Cristi  and  in  other  local- 
ities there  are  many  native  Dominican  and  Haitian  blacks. 
In  most  places  the  distinctly  colored  outnumber  the  more- 
or-less  white. 

Socially,  commercially  and  politically  there  seems  to  be 
little  color  line  drawn,  for  men  and  women  of  white  and  color- 
ed skins  are  seen  mingling  and  conversing  freely.  Whites 
and  colored  intermarry  and  hold  office  on  an  equality.  Some 
Dominicans  are  highly  educated  in  the  universities  of  America 
and  Europe.  Among  them  are  artists,  poets,  musicians,  his- 
torians, engineers,  diplomats,  soldiers,  clergymen,  sculptors 
and  architects  that  would  be  a  credit  to  any  country. 

The  language  of  Santo  Domingo  is  Spanish — comparatively 
pure.  Slight  differences  of  pronunciation  are  noticeable  in 
different  parts  of  the  republic  and  they  do  not  lisp  the  "c"  as 
do  the  Castilians,  but  the  difference  between  the  Dominican's 
Spanish  and  that  of  Spain  may  be  compared  to  the  difference 
between  English  spoken  in  the  United  States  and  in  England. 
Besides  Spanish,  the  English  and  French  languages  are 
heard  to  a  limited  extent.  On  the  Samana  peninsula  as  much 
English  as  Spanish  is  spoken,  and  in  the  coast  towns  San 
Pedro  de  Macoris,  Puerto  Plata,  Monte  Cristi  and  Santo 
Domingo,  it  is  often  heard,  from  the  lips  of  the  negroes  from 
the  British  islands. 

34 


To  understand  Santo  Domingo,  it  must  be  constantly  kept 
in  mind  that,  different  from  Haiti,  it  is  Spanish-American  in 
historical  inheritance,  religion,  problems,  ideals  and  culture. 
The  efforts  of  Haiti  to  make  it  a  black  man's  land  were  always 
resented,  and  the  country's  kinship  with  other  Latin-Amer- 
ican lands  and  with  Spain  has  been  emphasized  by  its  leader-. 

The  Spanish  consciousness  is  strong  in  spite  of  the  omni- 
present admixture  of  African  blood.  The  very  black  mayor 
of  an  inland  town  said  to  an  American  naval  officer  in  the 
course  of  a  conversation:  "Your  argument  is  all  right  for 
Anglo  Saxons,  but  we  Latins  are  different." 

The  politeness  so  characteristic  of  the  Latin-American  is 
evident  on  every  side.  The  gracious  hospitality  that  offers 
the  home  with  all  its  contents  to  the  guest  with  the  assurance 
that  "this  is  your  house"  is  still  prevalent  in  Santo  Domingo. 
The  idealism  of  the  race,  caricatured  in  the  immortal  Don 
Quixote,  that  often  drives  the  Hispano-American  to  extremes 
of  individualistic  effort,  to  intolerance  of  a  foe  and  worship 
of  a  friend,  also  leads  the  Dominican  to  take  himself  and  his 
opinions  very  seriously,  especially  when  they  assume  a  guise 
that  may  be  identified  with  "patriotism"  or  with  "liberty." 
The  greatest  drawback  to  all  this  from  the  standpoint  of 
developing  the  civic  life  is  the  frequent  unwillingness  to  sub 
ordinate  self  for  the  general  good,  that  lack  of  "team  play" 
which  is  so  serious  a  defect  among  these  really  fine  and  gen 
erally  well-meaning  people. 

The  Dominicans  are  a  sturdy  race.  All  of  their  president 
in  recent  years  have  been  men  of  commanding  physique.  That 
the  common  people  have  not  done  more  to  better  their  own 
condition  and  to  develop  their  land  is  due  to  the  manana 
spirit  of  the  tropics.  Why  work  more  than  is  necessary  to 
sustain  life  in  so  fertile  and  benign  a  land? 

The  women  of  the  Island  are  usually  graceful  in  carriage 
and  often  beautiful,  especially  in  their  girlhood.  The  heat  of 
the  climate  makes  the  use  of  powder  necessary,  and  frequently 
the  darker  the  hue  of  the  feminine  skin  the  more  powder,  The 
result  is  the  gray  or  ashen  hue  of  many  ncgresscs  which 
strikes  the  traveller  as  a  bit  ludicrous. 

The  Dominican,  especially  of  the  cities,  is  by  nature  ; 
frank  and  hospitable.  He  is  cosmopolitan  t<>  a  remarkable 
degree,  associating  without  embarrassment  with  people  of  all 
races,  nationalities  and  religion.  There  is  little  prejudice 
against  the  foreigner  as  such.  This  cosmopolitan  cast  to  tin- 
urban  population  has  been  still  further  emphasized  by  a  ver\ 
considerable  influx  of  Turks  and  Syrians,  especially  in  Santo 

35 


Domingo  City,  where  the  dry  goods  trade  is  almost  exclusively 
in  their  hands.  This  is  no  reflection  on  the  mercantile  ability 
of  the  native,  however,  because  the  Syrian  especially  has  shown 
in  many  lands  that  he  is  a  competitor  not  to  be  despised  in 
many  lines  of  merchandising.  He  is  a  keen  buyer,  a  frugal 
and  careful  man  in  his  household,  and  has  an  appreciation  of 
the  commercial  value  of  good-will  which  is  distinctly  lack- 
ing among  most  oriental  merchants. 

Even  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  where  life  is  reduced 
to  its  simplest  terms,  the  traveler  can  hardly  fail  to  note  the 
hospitality  exhibited  toward  the  stranger.  Most  of  these  little 
interior  villages  are  totally  lacking  in  accommodations  for  the 
traveler,  but  the  inhabitants  will  readily  and  freely  give  up 
their  own  homes  to  make  the  stranger  comfortable,  and  will 
share  their  scanty  meals  and  consider  it  an  honor.  "Time 
and  time  again,"  says  Verrill,  "has  the  author  arrived  at  some 
tiny  village  after  nightfall  only  to  have  the  swarthy,  brigand- 
ish-looking  natives  vie  with  one  another  to  care  for  the  horses, 
furnish  food  and  drink,  and  move  out  of  their  own  simple  huts 
to  provide  sleeping  quarters  for  the  visitor." 

The  people  of  Santo  Domingo  are  fond  of  music  and 
dancing,  are  gay,  vivacious  and  frivolous.  Bull  fights  are 
not  permitted,  but  cock  fighting  is  almost  universal  and  might 
very  properly  be  called  the  "national  sport." 

In  social  life  the  clubs  are  a  prominent  feature.  A  town 
must  be  unimportant  indeed  if  it  has  not  at  least  one  club 
where  the  men  meet,  read  the  papers  and  play  billiards.  The 
first  attention  shown  a  visiting  stranger  is  to  take  him  to  the 
local  club  and  enroll  him  as  a  temporary  member,  this  being 
equivalent  to  a  general  local  introduction. 

Considering  the  great  number  of  these  clubs  there  is  sur- 
prisingly little  drinking.  Club  etiquette  does  not  seem  to 
demand  the  drink  as  a  necessary  factor  in  agreeable  human 
intercourse,  as  it  does  in  many  countries.  Such  drinks  as  are 
served  are  confined  to  the  restaurants  and  the  homes  of  the 
people,  where  a  drink  is  frequently  offered  to  callers.  The 
saloon,  as  in  most  South-American  countries,  is  an  American 
innovation,  such  saloons  as  there  are  being  operated  entirely 
by  Americans. 

The  native  is  very  fond  of  coffee  and  drinks  a  great  deal 
of  it.  Little  cafeterias  or  coffee-shops  abound,  and  take  the 
place  of  the  saloon  in  the  social  intercourse  of  the  men. 

In  spite  of  a  considerable  consumption  of  light  wines  in 
the  Republic,  there  is  very  little  drunkenness.  One  American 
observer  stated  that  he  had  not  seen  over  three  intoxicated 
persons  in  six  vears. 

36 


The  principal  vice  of  the  people  is  gaming,  which  is  uni- 
versal in  one  form  or  another.  Lotteries  are  plentiful ;  most 
of  them  being  devoted  to  the  support  of  some  charity.  Two 
of  the  four  or  five  hospitals  in  the  country  derive  their  prin- 
cipal income  from  the  proceeds  of  lotteries  conducted  for  their 
benefit. 

Sexual  standards  are  about  the  same  as  those  prevailing 
in  most  South-American  countries,  the  women  of  the  upper 
class  being  in  general  virtuous  and  the  men  inclined  to 
amorous  intrigue.  Statistics  relating  to  marriages  and  births 
show  that  about  60  per  cent  of  the  children  are  illegitimate. 
These  figures,  however,  are  largely  accounted  for  by  the  large 
number  of  "consentual  unions"  among  the  poorer  classes,  where 
men  and  women,  although  not  united  by  marriage,  live  to- 
gether publicly  as  man  and  wife,  rear  a  family  and  are  as  faith- 
ful to  each  other  as  if  legitimately  married.  The  consider- 
able number  of  these  unions  is  due  to  the  high  cost  of  the 
marriage  ceremony  and  also  to  the  fact  that  such  unions  have 
become  so  common  that  the  parties  see  nothing  wrong  in 
them. 

A  respectable  colored  man  in  a  responsible  position  on 
a  plantation,  the  head  of  a  large  family  but  not  married  to 
the  woman  with  whom  he  had  lived  over  twenty  years  and  to 
whom  he  seemed  devoted,  was  urged  by  an  American  friend 
to  marry  her,  but  the  answer  was  a  determined  negative.  "If 
I  marry  her  she  will  know  I  have  to  support  her  ami  she 
may  get  careless  and  lazy.  Knowing  that  I  can  leave  her  when 
I  like,  she  will  continue  to  behave  herself."  Similar  persua- 
sion applied  to  the  "wife"  elicited  an  almost  identical  reply. 
The  common  law  "wife"  feared  that  her  husband  might  make 
love  to  other  women  were  she  legally  bound  to  him,  a  proce- 
dure that  he  would  not  dare  attempt  now  for  fear  she  might 
leave  him! 

Women  have  little  part  in  industry  in  the  republic,  the 
idea  of  women  in  business  being  a  very  distasteful  one  to  the 
Latin-American.  The  movement  toward  commercial  lite  has 
secured  at  least  a  start,  however,  in  all  the  Latin  countries, 
Santo  Domingo  being  no  exception  in  this  regard.  The 
women  are  really  the  hope  of  the  country,  as  tiny  are  better 
workers  and  have  better  habits  than  the  men. 

Occasionally  a   woman   of  the  upper  classes  defies   tradi- 
tion  to  the  extent  of  entering  the   commercial   world.      Hit 
position  may  be  so  secure  socially  as  to  preclude  any  a<! 
expression   of  opinion.     This   happened    notably    in    the 
of  a  most  estimable  young  woman  who  was  recently  nominated 

37 

60 


for  a  position  in  the  office  of  the  Superintendent  of  Sanitation. 
One  newspaper  gave  utterance  as  follows :  "As  beautiful  as 
she  is  virtuous,  as  intelligent  as  she  is  beautiful,  the  Sefiorita 
Mendoza,  an  ornament  and  adornment  of  our  aristocracy, 
typically  represents  the  present  evolution  of  the  Dominican 
woman,  who,  within  her  traditional  refinement  and  simplicity 
seeks  new  and  larger  orientations." 

This  may  be  calculated  to  bring  a  smile  to  North  Amer- 
icans, but  it  represents  very  accurately  to  what  lengths  the 
Dominican  has  to  go  in  order  to  justify  the  entrance  of  women 
into  business.  The  average  girl  has  nothing  with  which  to 
occupy  her  time.  She  is  very  closely  chaperoned,  is  not  allow- 
ed out  alone,  and  can  only  sit  in  her  parents'  home  and  rock 
to  and  fro  as  she  sees  her  brothers  go  out  at  night  in  pursuit 
of  social  enjoyment. 

Health  conditions  are  improving  steadily,  as  the  United 
States  officials  are  introducing  modern  sanitary  methods.  The 
Chief  Sanitary  Officer  has  taken  especial  interest  in  surveying 
the  need  for  hospitals.  Some  paragraphs  from  his  most  recent 
reports  are  given  herewith : 

"Although  there  have  been  numerous  local  outbreaks  of  com- 
municable disease  in  the  country  during  the  past  year,  especially 
measles  and  typhoid  fever,  and  other  transmissable  diseases  are  omni- 
present, as  hookworm  in  the  Cibao  region  and  yaws  in  Barahona,  no 
really  severe  epidemic  occurred  in  this  country  until  the  worldwide 
influenza  epidemic  commenced  here  in  November,  1918,  the  disease 
having  entered  the  country  from  Haiti.  An  attempt  was  made  to 
keep  it  out  by  quarantine  measures,  but  these  were  unsuccessful,  so 
far  as  the  land  quarantine  against  Haiti  was  concerned.  No  cases 
entered  the  country  by  water.  During  November,  there  were  827  cases 
reported  from  Azua  and  Barahona  with  20  deaths.  During  December, 
18,936  cases,  with  331  deaths,  were  reported  from  the  provinces  of 
Azua,  Barahona,  Monte  Cristi,  Puerto  Plata,  Santiago  and  La  Vega, 
while  in  January,  1919,  there  were  32,257  cases,  with  448  deaths  in 
these  provinces.  The  proportion  of  deaths  to  reported  cases  was  1.53 
per  cent. 

"Existing  facilities  for  the  care  of  the  sick  in  this  country  are  in 
very  poor  shape.  There  are  at  present  only  seven  hospitals  in  the 
country,  and  one  of  these  is  owned  and  operated  by  the  La  Eomana 
Sugar  Company  for  its  employees.  The  others  are  the  Dominican 
Military  Hospital  and  the  Beneficencia  Hospital  in  Santo  Domingo 
City.  The  former  is  an  ancient  building  inherited  from  the  former 
Dominican  Government.  It  is  badly  in  need  of  repairs,  and  should 
be  rebuilt  or,  preferably,  a  new  hospital  built.  Its  accommodations 
are  poor,  and  it  is  used  mainly  for  the  care  of  prisoners,  the  indigent 
poor  and  prostitutes,  the  last  by  compulsion. 

"The  Beneficencia  Hospital  is  a  very  small  organization  adminis- 
tered by  the  Junta  de  Caridad,  a  local  charitable  organization.  It  is 
well  run  with  such  funds  as  are  available,  but  neither  of  these  hos- 
pitals  is  at   all  adequate. 

38 


"San  Pedro  de  Macon's  has  one  small  frame  hospital  for  men  only, 
run  by  a  charitable  organization.  Like  the  Beneficencia  Hospital, 
it  is  fairly  well  run  with  such  funds  as  are  available,  but  is  totally 
inadequate  for  the  needs.  This  city  has  about  25,000  inhabitants,  and 
is  rapidly  growing,  but  has  absolutely  no  place  where  a  sick  woman 
may  obtain  hospital  treatment  or  where  a  poor  woman  may  go  for 
any  medical  treatment." 

In  a  report  to  the  American  Red  Cross,  the  Chief  Sanitary 
Officer  recommends  for  the  supplying  of  the  most  outstand- 
ing needs  of  the  Island,  the  erection  of  seven  new  hospitals  and 
the  improvement  of  the  buildings  and  equipment  of  those  now 
in  existence.     He  says,  in  closing  his  report : 

"It  is  the  opinion  of  this  office  that  these  hospitals  should,  at 
least  for  a  time,  be  administered  by  an  American  physician,  prefer- 
ably a  Spanish-speaking  one,  and  a  Porto  Rico  or  Cuban  graduate 
head  nurse,  none  being  available  in  this  country.  In  this  way,  a 
corps  of  trained  nurses  could  be  developed,  something  in  which  the 
country  is  totally  lacking  at  present,  and  something  which  is  very 
badly  needed. 

"These  hospitals  are  very  badly  needed  by  this  country  and,  in- 
asmuch as  the  time  is  far  distant  before  either  the  Dominican  national 
or  local  governments  can  hope  to  be  financially  able  to  build  the 
same,  any  assistance  which  the  Red  Cross  can  furnish  will  be  im- 
mensely appreciated    by   the   people,   and   bring  a   large   return. 

"To  recapitulate,  the  new  hospitals  needed,  with  estimated  cost 
of  construction,  given  in  order  of  what  is  believed  by  this  office  to 
be  the  relative  necessity,  is  as  follows: 

Seybo     $35,000.00 

Santo  Domingo    60.000.00 

S.  P.   Macoris    45.000.00 

Sanchez    20.000.00 

San  Juan    20.000.00 

Monte   Cristi    20.000.00 

Barahona    15.000.00 

Total $215.0D(i. on 

"To  complete  the  necessary  hospitalization  of  the  country,  the 
existing  hospitals  at  Puerto  Plata,  Santiago  and  La  Vega  should  be 
completely  equipped,  and  some  necessary  additional  construction 
work  done,  the  construction  work  being  estimated  at  about  $15,000.00. 
It  is  very  doubtful  whether  any  of  these  hospitals  would  be  self-sup- 
porting,  certainly   not   for   a   long   time." 


CHAPTER  V 
DOMINICAN  AUTHORS  AND  LITERATURE 

IF  Santo  Domingo  is  noted  for  its  backwardness  in  most 
respects,  it  is  equally  noted  wherever  the  Spanish  language 

is  spoken  for  excellency  of  literary  production.  One  of  the 
first  impulses  received  for  its  creation  came  from  Juan  Pablo 
Duarte,  who  was  the  leader  of  the  revolution  against  the 
dominance  of  Haiti.  lie  was  educated  in  Spain  and  was  one 
of  the  great  men  of  Santo  Domingo. 

The  University  of  Santo  Domingo  was  founded  in  1538 
and  maintained  a  colony  with  a  higher  degree  of  culture  than 
that  which  existed  in  other  parts  of  the  Antilles.  Students 
came  to  Santo  Domingo  from  various  other  colonies.  When 
the  Haitians  overran  Santo  Domingo  the  intellectuals  were 
scattered  abroad,  especially  through  Porto  Rico,  Cuba  and 
Venezuela. 

The  great  Cuban  poet  Heredia  was  the  child  of  Dominican 
parents,  as  were  also  Domingo  Delmonte,  and  other  famous 
Cuban  men  of  letters.  The  intellectual  leader  of  the  Dominican 
Republic,  established  in  1844,  was  Felix  Maria  Delmonte.  He 
wrote  the  national  hymn,  which  echoes  the  bitter  struggle 
against  Haiti.  The  period  of  peace  following  the  establish- 
ment of  a  republic  was  not  after  all  peaceable  enough  for  the 
encouragement  of  literature.  The  Spaniards,  in  re-establish- 
ing their  rule  over  Santo  Domingo  in  1860,  shot  Felix  Mota, 
an  author,  among  others.  The  Dominican  Republic  was  re- 
established in  1866.  but  the  restoration  of  order  was  delayed 
for  some  time. 

Among  the  exiles  that  returned  after  the  Spanish  exit  was 
Javier  Angelo  Guridi,  a  former  colonel  in  the  patriot  army, 
During  his  exile  in  Venezuela,  he  engaged  in  journalism,  and 
was  inspired  by  Indian  life  there.  He  was  the  first  Dominican 
poet  whose  verses  were  collected  in  a  volume.  His  best  poems 
and  prose  tales,  called  "Ensavos  Poeticos,"  were  published  in 
1843. 

One  of  the  greatest  poets  of  Santo  Domingo  was  a  woman, 
Dona  Salome  L'rcna.  Her  first  efforts  were  in  praise  of  the 
ideals  of  the  peace  and  progress.     In  1878,  a  society  known 

40 


as  "Los  Amigos  del  Pais,"  was  founded,  to  promote  the  inter- 
ests of  Santo  Domingo,  and  the  poetess  received  from  this  so- 
ciety a  medal  and  a  published  edition  of  her  poems.  In  1880  she 
married  Francisco  Enriquez  y  Carvajal,  a  kinsman  of  the 
recent  President  Enriquez  of  Santo  Domingo.  Doiia  Salome 
later  on  came  under  the  influence  of  Hostos  and  aided  in  his 
educational  movement  by  the  founding  of  the  first  school 
for  young  ladies  in  Santo  Domingo.  She  directed  this  school 
for  many  years  during  which  time  her  numerous  poems  all 
echoed  the  home  life  which  found  strong  vibration  in  the  heart 
of  this  wife  and  mother.  One  of  her  best  known  volumes  of 
poems,  printed  in  1878,  was  the  Indian  legend,  Anacnona. 

To  such  a  legend  another  one  of  the  famous  poets  owes 
his  fame.  Jose  Joaquin  Perez,  who  lived  from  1845  to  1900,  is 
principally  known  for  his  famous  poem  "Quisqueyana,"  which 
was  written  in  1874,  following  his  exile  in  Venezuela.  He 
also  wrote  in  that  same  year,  "Vuelta  al  Hogar,"  which  gives 
his  exultation  on  returning  to  his  native  land.  Another  vol- 
ume of  poems  referring  to  early  national  life,  and  which  serves 
to  give  Perez  a  great  name  outside  of  his  own  land,  is  called 
"Fantasias  Indigenas."  These  perpetuated  the  memory  of  the 
aborigines  of  Santo  Domingo.  Perez  showed  his  deep  interest 
in  the  advancement  of  Santo  Domingo  by  writing  a  beautiful 
little  poem  called  "Himno  al  Progreso  del  Pais."  He  showed 
his  sympathy  for  the  Cubans  during  their  rebellion  in  1895  by 
writing  a  series  of  poems  called  "Americanas." 

The  novel  "Enriquillo"  made  famous  the  name  of  Manuel 
de  Jesus  Galvan.  This  is  one  of  the  best  historical  novels  that 
was  ever  written  in  Spanish  America.  It  is  remarkable  both 
for  style  and  subject  matter.  It  describes  the  colonial  period 
in  Santo  Domingo  during  the  administration  of  Diego  Colum- 
bus, the  son  of  the  discoverer.  The  arrival  of  Diego  Columbus 
with  his  bride,  Maria  de  Toledo,  the  work  of  Bartolome  de  las 
Casas  who  is  famous  for  championing  the  rights  of  the  Indians, 
the  grievances  and  last  rebellion  of  the  young  Indian  chief, 
Enriquillo,  all  make  this  one  of  the  most  interesting  pieces  of 
historical  fiction  written  in  Latin  America. 

The  President  of  the  Republic,  at  the  time  that  the  United 
States  took  over  the  government  in  1916,  was  one  of  the  out- 
standing literary  men  of  Santo  Domingo,  Fedcrico  Enriquez  >i 
Carvajal.  He  distinguished  himself  as  a  journalist  while  yet 
a  young  man.  He  co-operated  with  Hostos  in  the  development 
of  the  normal  school  in  Santo  Domingo  City.  He  also  render- 
ed great  help  to  the  Cuban  patriots.  When  Maximo  Gomez 
and  other  Cuban  leaders  found  refuge  in  ^anto  Domingo,  Car- 

41 


vajal  was  extremely  kind  to  them.  Jose  Marti  has  written  a 
glowing  description  of  his  visit  to  Santo  Domingo  in  1893  and 
told  of  the  magnificent  welcome  that  he  received  from  Enriquez 
and  other  Dominicans.  From  Santo  Domingo,  Marti  and 
Gomez  set  out  to  raise  the  cry  for  the  liberty  of  Cuba,  that 
finally  resulted  in  success  in  1898. 

Federko  Garcia  Godoy  is  one  of  the  greatest  living  Domi- 
nican authors.  A  visit  to  his  simple  home  in  La  Vega  was 
greatly  appreciated  by  the  writer.  Godoy  is  known  as  a 
literary  critic  wherever  the  Spanish  language  is  spoken.  His 
historical  novels,  "Rufinito"  and  "Alma  Dominicana"  give  pic- 
tures of  the  Dominican  struggle  for  independence.  He  is  a 
strong  nationalist,  and  has  done  much  for  the  development  of 
his  people. 

"La  Literatura  Americana  de  Nuestros  Dias"  is  a  splendid 
study  of  some  of  the  best  Spanish  authors. 

Among  the  present  writers  on  sociological  and  political 
topics  are  Amerigo  Lugo  and  Jose  B.  Lopez.  Various  articles 
of  Sr.  Lugo  are  collected  in  a  book  called  "A  Punto  Largo." 
The  most  interesting  essay  in  the  collection  is  one  concerning 
intervention,  which  applies  particularly  to  intervention  in 
Cuba.  Sr.  Lugo,  during  his  residence  in  France  and  the 
United  States  and  England,  has  collected  material  for  a  his- 
tory of  his  own  country  which  he  hopes  soon  to  publish.  A 
critical  tract  on  Dominican  conditions  is  that  by  Lopez  called 
"La  Paz  en  la  Republica  Dominicana." 

Probably  the  greatest  single  influence  in  the  intellectual 
life  of  Santo  Domingo  was  Eugenio  Maria  de  Hostos,  a 
Porto-Rican  who  spent  some  twenty  years  in  Santo  Domingo, 
occupying  himself  with  the  development  of  education  in  that 
country.  Here  is  one  of  those  Latin  geniuses  that  seem  to  be 
capable  of  doing  any  amount  of  intellectual  work  in  any 
number  of  different  spheres.  He  wrote  one  of  the  best  treatises 
on  constitutional  law  that  has  ever  been  published.  An  edition 
in  English  is  scheduled  for  the  near  future.  His  educational 
principles  which  were  given  through  his  years  of  teaching  in 
the  normal  school  in  Santo  Domingo,  show  some  of  the  most 
modern  pedagogical  theories.  A  volume  called  "Meditando" 
shows  the  remarkable  intellectual  grasp  of  the  man.  First 
there  is  a  long  essay  on  Hamlet,  a  splendid  critical  study  of 
Shakespeare's  play ;  then  there  follow  short  essays  on  several 
of  the  great  men  of  South  America ;  a  criticism  of  various 
authors  in  Santo  Domingo ;  a  treatise  on  the  laws  of  teaching, 
on  political  themes  and  a  literary  criticism.     This  remarkable 

42 


man  was  educated  in  Spain,  traveled  all  through  Latin  Amer- 
ica, came  to  be  a  recognized  authority  in  literature  and  politics 
in  Argentina,  Chile,  Santo  Domingo,  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  in 
all  of  which  countries  he  lived  for  a  more  or  less  brief  period 
of  time.  Before  Europe  had  opened  scientific  careers  to  women, 
Hostos  had  persuaded  the  Chilean  government  to  open  its 
courses  in  medicine  and  law  to  women.  He  was  also  the  first 
man  to  urge  the  importance  in  Argentina  of  the  construction 
of  the  Trans-Andean  Railroad.  In  Santo  Domingo  he  edited 
the  first  laws  concerning  education  and  directed  for  nine  years 
the  public  education  of  that  country. 

While  in  Peru  he  began  a  campaign  in  favor  of  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Chinese  there  and  aided  the  national  government 
in  its  controversy  concerning  the  Oroya  railroad.  He  worked 
most  arduously  for  the  independence  of  Cuba  and  offered  to 
earn  by  means  of  his  pen  a  million  pesetas  for  the  Liberal 
Cause.  Although  he  was  a  devotee  of  Bellas  Artes,  he  did  not 
fail  to  recognize  the  disadvantage  to  the  Latin-American  people 
of  giving  so  much  time  to  literature.  In  a  study  on  the  poems 
of  Mata,  he  says:  "We  have  in  the  influence  of  poetry  and 
literature,  in  the  imagination  and  character  of  the  Latin  Amer- 
ican an  opinion  which  it  is  important  to  give  under  two  head- 
ings. We  believe  that  a  people  of  so  much  imagination  as 
ours  and  societies  of  such  insecure  character  as  ours  in  all 
Latin  America,  lose  in  reason  what  they  gain  in  fantasy,  and 
dissipate  in  substance  what  they  gain  in  form;  with  the  almost 
exclusive  poetical  and  literary  education  which  they  receive. 

"This  is  the  reason  why  up  to  the  present  neither  poetry  nor 
literature  have  educated  the  liking  for  literature  and  the 
sensitive  delicacy  which,  good  and  convenient  as  they  are, 
when  they  serve  as  a  complement  of  a  well  balanced  educa- 
tion, with  us  are  obstacles  when  the  cultivation  of  forms  takes 
precedence  over  all  else." 

Pedro  EnrUjiicz  l'n ua,  the  son  of  Dona  Salome  Urena, 
is  another  Dominican  who  has  had  a  wide  influence  in  different 
parts  of  Latin  America.  His  studies  in  Greek  literature  led  him 
to  make  a  translation  of  some  of  Pater's  essays  under  the 
title  "Estudios  Griegos."  His  "Horas  de  Estudio"  gives  some 
very  delightful  studies  of  philosophical,  political  and  patriotic 
subjects.  One  section,  called  "Literatura  Espanola  y  Ameri- 
cana," gives  charming  criticisms  on  the  works  of  Ruben  Dario 
and  other  well-known  authors.  The  section  "De  Mi  Patria" 
gives  an  extensive  review  of  literature  and  intellectual  life  of 
Santo  Domingo.    This  book  also  contains  several  essays  read 

43 


before  the  Mexican  public  while  he  was  professor  of  literature 
in  the  University  of  Mexico. 

Archbishop  Carlos  Nouel  has  written  a  scholarly  two- 
volume  "Ecclesiastical  History  of  Santo  Domingo"  which  is 
full  of  valuable  material,  especially  in  reference  to  the  first 
fifty  years  of  Dominican  life. 

In  spite  of  the  literary  achievements  of  these  distinguished 
Dominicans,  the  people  of  the  Republic  have  little  access  to 
good  reading  matter.  Public  libraries  are  chiefly  notable  by 
their  absence.  Puerto  Plata  had  the  only  such  institution 
observed  by  the  writer  in  all  of  Santo  Domingo.  In  the 
larger  towns,  the  clubs  usually  have  some  attempt  at  a  library; 
but  the  high  walnut  case  of  old  leather-bound  tomes  usually 
provided  is  not  calculated  to  whet  the  literary  appetite  of 
the  Dominican  youth,  even  if  he  might  have  access  to  this 
restricted  privilege  of  the  elite  of  his  city. 

The  towns  on  the  Island  have  no  bookstores  worthy  of 
the  name.  Two  small  ones  were  noticed  with  a  few  novels 
in  stock,  mostly  translated  from  the  French,  and  with  a  de- 
cided tendency  to  the  risque.  These  were  supported  by  a 
staid  background  of  ancient  works  on  philosophy,  which  few, 
even  among  the  scholarly,  take  time  to  read  in  these  days. 

An  interesting  trade  custom  was  found  to  prevail  among 
these  isolated  booksellers,  so  far  from  all  competition  as  well 
as  from  any  keen  demand  for  their  wares.  The  price  of  a 
book  is  advanced  in  proportion  to  the  time  it  has  been  kept 
in  stock.  If  the  volume  sells  at  four  dollars  this  year,  it  will 
bring  five  next  year,  and  so  on.  What  an  insidious  tempta- 
tion to  read  the  new  best  sellers !  The  ghosts  of  Cervantes 
and  Calderon  must  rest  uneasy. 

For  the  majority,  the  newspapers  furnish  the  only  source 
of  reading.  Practically  all  are  published  in  the  cities  of  Santo 
Domingo,  Santiago  and  Puerto  Plata,  and  all  are  of  modest 
dimensions.  The  principal  daily  of  the  republic  is  the 
"Listin  Diario,"  of  Santo  Domingo.  It  has  a  circulation 
of  about  10,000.  There  are  also  published  here  the 
"Revista  Medica,"  "Revista  de  Agricultural'  "Revista  Judi- 
cial," "Boletin  Masonica,"  two  small  humorous  papers;  two 
commercial  sheets ;  an  illustrated  paper,  "Blanco  y  Negro," 
and  a  literary  monthly,  "Cuna  de  America."  Santiago  also 
has  two  daily  papers,  as  well  as  several  small  literary  perio- 
dicals. In  Puerto  Plata  is  published  "El  Porvenir,"  the  oldest 
of  existing  Dominican  newspapers.  In  San  Pedro  de  Macoris, 
the  only  daily  is  "La  Prensa." 

44 


CHAPTER  VI 
EDUCATION  AND  RELIGION 

Education  in  America  had  its  beginning  in  Santo  Domingo. 
The  University  of  Saint  Thomas  was  organized  in  1538,  with 
the  permission  and  backing  of  both  the  King  of  Spain  and 
the  Pope  of  Rome.  It  was,  of  course,  for  the  education  of 
the  privileged  classes  for  service  to  the  Chifrch  and  State. 
Its  curriculum  and  faculty  were  entirely  directed  by  the 
Church.  In  the  first  half  century  of  its  existence  it  was  noted 
both  for  its  learned  professors  and  its  distinguished  graduates, 
who  went  from  its  halls  to  Porto  Rico,  Cuba,  Mexico,  Panama 
and  South  America.  The  University,  along  with  the  other 
departments  of  life  in  the  colony,  gradually  lost  its  prestige 
and  died  away  as  the  adventurous  colonists  heard  the  call  of 
"Westward  Ho,"  in  their  search  for  gold,  adventure  and  new 
territory  for  State  and  Church.  The  University  has  been 
closed  for  long  periods  of  time  and  for  that  reason  has  lost 
to  Saint  Mark's  in  Lima  the  designation  of  "the  oldest  Univer- 
sity in  America."  When  the  American  occupation  took  place, 
the  school  was  so  disorganized  that  the  authorities  suppressed 
it  entirely.  It  has  been  revived,  however,  and  now  occupies 
a  modest  two  story  building  near  the  cathedral.  The  courses 
are  largely  law  and  engineering,  and  the  faculty  is  recruited 
from  among  the  professional  men  of  the  city,  who  come  to 
the  school  only  for  the  hours  when  their  lectures  are  given. 

The  long  series  of  revolutions  preceding  the  American 
occupation  left  the  educational  system  in  a  pitiable  condition. 
While  there  was  universal  desire  for  schools,  financial  limita- 
tions allowed  few  of  them.  It  seems  that  at  every  period  when 
there  was  promise  for  a  great  educational  advance,  it  was 
suddenly  stopped  by  adverse  political  conditions.  One  of  the 
most  serious  setbacks  was  at  the  time  of  the  Haitian  occupa- 
tion, when  the  Dominican  cultured  classes  fled  from  the  Island. 
The  intellectual  circle,  always  notable  in  Santo  Domingo  in 
spite  of  all  discouragements,  kept  up  its  culture  by  sending 
its  sons  and  daughters  abroad,  largely  to  France,  for  their 
education.  The  Government  maintained  a  certain  number  of 
students  in  the  United  States  and  other  foreign  countries  on 

45 


scholarships  (which  unfortunately  have  been  withdrawn  by 
the  American  military  government  because  of  the  belief  that 
the  privileges  were  being  abused). 

A  generation  ago,  education  in  the  Republic  took  on  a  re- 
markable revival,  under  the  inspiration  of  Eugenio  de  Hostos, 
something  of  whose  work  has  been  related  in  the  chapter  on 
Literature.  He  was  a  born  pedagogue,  that  rare  combina- 
tion of  profound  student  and  inspiring  instructor.  Although 
he  was  a  native  Porto-Rican,  he  gave  most  of  his  life  to  Santo 
Domingo,  and  few  men  are  so  revered  by  the  people.  There 
is  a  popular  movement  among  his  old  students  to  collect  the 
notes  on  his  lectures,  and  publish  them.  Not  counting  these, 
however,  he  has  left  some  forty  volumes  of  writings.  Another 
noted  Dominican  author,  who  took  great  interest  in  education, 
was  the  famous  poetess,  Salome  Urena,  who  initiated  a  new 
era  of  women's  education  by  founding  a  girls'  school,  which 
continues  to  exist,  but  with  much  of  its  prestige  gone. 

The  American  military  occupation  found  about  20,000 
pupils  in  schools.  These  pupils  were  mostly  in  little  private 
schools  subsidized  by  the  government,  in  which  the  one  teach- 
er who  held  the  classes  in  a  room  in  her  own  house,  taught  all 
the  grades.  Not  only  pedagogical,  but  hygienic  and  moral 
conditions  were  usually  very  low,  as  a  visit  to  some  of  these 
schools  that  still  exist,  amply  demonstrates. 

The  advance  in  primary  education  made  since  the  Amer- 
ican occupation  is  nothing  less  than  astounding.  Colonel  Lane 
of  the  United  States  Marine  Corps,  who  is  now  Minister  of 
Education,  is  widely  known  for  his  singular  devotion  to  his 
task.  No  one  who  has  the  privilege  of  making  the  rounds  with 
him  to  the  schools  in  the  capital,  as  the  writer  did,  and  seeing 
the  evident  love  of  the  children  and  admiration  of  the  teachers 
for  one  who  takes  the  interest  of  a  real  father  in  his  children, 
can  ever  forget  the  impression.  One  of  his  most  prized  institu- 
tions is  the  correctional  school,  where  the  toughest  little 
"wharf  rats,"  thieves  and  beggars  are  being  remade  into  use- 
ful citizens  through  training  as  shoemakers,  tailors  and  car- 
penters. Not  the  least  among  the  influences  of  reform  is 
American  baseball,  which  is  played  not  only  by  that  school, 
but  by  several  others,  under  the  inspection  of  the  ever  present 
Colonel,  who  is  most  ably  seconded  by  a  young  Dominican, 
educated  in  Baltimore,  who  acts  as  Superintendent  of  Schools. 

In  one  of  the  schools  held  in  the  former  residence  of  the 
Archbishop,  who  is  glad  to  rent  it  for  the  purpose,  there  are 
nrolled  400  pupils.  A  system  of  rural  schools  is  being  organ- 
ized as  rapidly  as  possible  and  gardens  planted  in  connection 

46 


with  many.  There  are  twenty-five  Porto  Ricans,  trained  in 
agriculture,  who  have  been  brought  over  to  teach  the  children 
and  their  parents  by  means  of  these  schools  and  institutes 
something  of  modern  agriculture.  Santo  Domingo  will  soon 
be  turning  out  some  of  these  teachers  also,  as  a  new  agricul- 
tural school  is  being  built  by  the  Government  near  the  recently 
opened  experimental  farm. 

Beyond  the  correctional  school  and  the  agricultural  school, 
no  industrial  work  is  being  done  or  contemplated  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. Colonel  Lane  believes  that  the  government's  first 
job  is  to  teach  the  children  to  read  and  to  write  since  the 
object  of  the  American  occupation  is  to  establish  a  capable 
self-governing  people,  who  must  have  reading  and  writing 
as  a  tool  of  first  importance,  and  since  fund's  are  so  limited  he 
is  bending  every  energy  toward  this  single  object.  Nothing 
has  yet  been  done  even  toward  training  teachers,  except  the 
adding  of  two  grades  of  normal  training  to  the  one  high  school 
in  Santo  Domingo.  In  the  tremendous  speeding  up  of  primary 
education,  doubling  the  enrollment  every  year  of  the  three 
of  American  occupation,  all  kinds  of  teachers  and  buildings 
have  had  to  be  used.  The  daily  papers  contain  advertisements 
every  day  for  from  ten  to  twenty  teachers.  Old  stables,  jails 
and  all  kinds  of  buildings  are  laid  hold  of,  hastily  cleared  out 
and  schools  installed. 

The  present  budget  for  public  instruction  is  $1,500,000, 
one-third  of  the  amount  being  furnished  by  the  national  treas- 
ury, another  third  by  the  municipalities  and  another  by  special 
taxes.  It  will  probably  be  some  time  before,  in  justice  to  the 
people,  this  amount  can  be  greatly  augmented.  The  great 
need  for  help  from  outside  forces  is  therefore  easily  seen,  es- 
pecially along  the  lines  of  industrial  training  and  preparation 
of  teachers. 

There  are  very  few  private  schools,  religious  or  secular, 
in  the  country.  In  the  capital  there  are  two  small  commercial 
schools  giving  courses  in  the  evenings  and  a  girls'  private 
school,  with  140  enrolled,  giving  courses  from  kindergarten, 
through  the  primary  grades.  The  Episcopalians  conduct  a 
small  primary  school  for  American  children  in  the  rector's 
residence.  The  Catholic  church  maintains  Colegio  San  Tomas 
with  miserable  equipment,  enrolling  some  twenty-one  boys 
with  eight  students  for  the  priesthood.  There  are  few  private 
schools  of  any  consequence  outside  the  capital.  The  few 
primary  schools  conducted  by  Protestants  are  mentioned  in 
the  section  on  Religion. 

The   Roman    Catholic    Church   in    Santo   Domingo   has  a 

47 


noble  heritage.  It  was  here  that  Padre  de  Las  Casas  began  his 
unselfish  labors  for  the  Indians.  He  was  accompanied  by  a 
number  of  other  most  devoted  padres,  who  extended  their  mis- 
sionary labors  to  neighboring  Spanish  colonies.  The  story  of 
their  sacrifice  and  consecration  is  fascinatingly  told  in  the  vol- 
ume llistoria  Eclesidstica,  edited  by  the  present  Archbishop, 
Monsignor  Nouel. 

The  Church  remembers  with  pride  those  glorious  days, 
while  the  Archbishop  of  Santo  Domingo,  because  this  was  the 
first  office  of  its  kind  created  in  America,  is  still  regarded  as  the 
i'rimate  of  the  West  Indies.  The  present  Archbishop  is  a  fine 
gentleman,  one  would  say  "a  good  fellow"  if  it  were  permis- 
sible, and  is  probably  the  most  popular  Dominican  both  with 
the  Americans  and  among  his  own  people.  At  the  suggestion 
of  two  Commissioners  sent  to  the  island  by  the  United  States 
in  1912,  the  Archbishop  was  elected  President  of  the  Republic. 
He  held  office  only  a  few  months,  however,  when  conditions 
became  so  difficult  that  he  left  the  country  and  cabled  his 
resignation.  He  was  the  second  Archbishop  to  be  president 
during  this  generation. 

The  Church  has  lost  the  prestige  of  the  old  days  and  if  it 
were  not  for  the  popularity  of  the  Archbishop  it  is  hard  to 
know  what  would  be  its  state.  No  one  seems  to  regard  it  in 
a  serious  light  or  as  having  anything  to  do  with  present  day 
life  and  problems.  Not  that  there  is  hostility — only  an  ignor- 
ing of  its  existence  except  as  it  furnishes  through  its  cere- 
monies and  feast  days  the  occasion  for  social  functions. 

The  report  that  one  gets  everywhere  is  that  the  priesthood 
is  generally  low  bred  and  immoral.  A  steamship  captain  who 
has  coasted  the  Island  for  twenty-five  years  says  the  priests 
are  among  the  lowest  class  passengers  he  carries. 

The  Catholic  Encyclopedia  reports  66  secular  priests  and 
12  regular  priests,  32  sisters  of  charity,  68  churches,  103 
chapels  and  1  seminary. 

Priests  not  infrequently  sit  as  members  of  congress  or 
of  municipal  councils,  not  as  priests  but  as  citizens. 

The  status  of  church  property  is  not  clear.  There  was 
recently  an  attempt,  following  the  example  of  Mexico  and  other 
Latin-American  countries,  to  nationalize  church  property,  but 
this  was  strenuously  opposed  by  the  Ecclesiastical  author- 
ities and  no  definite  decision  has  been  reached  in  the  matter. 

Referring  to  general  religious  conditions,  Schoenrich  says : 

"The  absence  of  religious  fanaticism  is  exemplified  by  the  tolerance 
accorded   all  religious   sects.     These,   it  is   true,   are   but   slimly   rep- 

48 


resented.  Of  the  Jewish  faith  there  are  probably  not  two  dozen 
persons  in  the  Republic.  The  Protestants  are  almost  entirely  negroes 
from  the  British  and  former  Danish  islands  and  other  foreigners,  and 
descendants  of  the  American  negroes.  For  these  the  Wesleyan 
Methodist  Church  of  England  maintains  a  flourishing  mission  with 
chapels  in  Puerto  Plata.  Samana  and  Sanchez,  and  a  small  branch  in 
Santo  Domingo  City.  The  principal  chapel  is  in  Puerto  Plata,  which 
is  also  the  residence  of  the  minister  in  charge  of  the  mission.  The 
African  Methodist  Church  also  has  small  stations  at  Samana  and 
San  Pedro  de  Macon's,  though  the  word  'African'  does  not  tend  to 
make  the  church  popular  in  Santo  Domingo.  There  is.  further,  an 
almost  abandoned  Baptist  mission  in  Puerto  Plata  and  Monte  Cristi. 
In  all  these  churches,  services  are  generally  carried  on  in  the  English 
language  alone.  In  San  Francisco  de  Macoris,  Protestant  services 
are  conducted  in  Spanish  by  devotees  who  do  not  seem  to  be  ordained 
by  any  particular  sect." 

The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  the  oldest 
Protestant  work  in  Santo  Domingo.  It  was  established  when 
President  Boyer  in  about  1830  brought  negro  slaves  as  colon- 
ists into  the  island  which  was  at  that  time  under  the  control 
of  Haiti.  Boyer  sent  a  committee  to  the  United  States  and 
made  great  promises  to  them  concerning  land  and  other  priv- 
ileges that  he  would  give  them.  But  he  did  not  fulfill  his 
promises  and  much  suffering  followed,  many  of  them  dying. 
But  the  colony  which  was  located  at  Samana  has  maintained 
its  integrity,  blood  and  language,  and  today  reminds  one  very 
much  of  the  negroes  of  the  southern  part  of  the  United  States. 
The  Rev.  J.  P.  James  is  the  presiding  elder  in  charge  of  all 
the  work.  At  Samana  they  have  a  church  building,  325  mem- 
bers, most  of  them  English  speaking;  once  in  a  while  they 
have  a  service  in  Spanish.  They  have  a  school  in  the  church 
with  35  children.  They  have  a  school  building  nine  miles  out 
from  Samana  with  about  85  pupils ;  two  Sunday  schools ;  four 
workers  altogether  in  Samana. 

In  San  Pedro  de  Macoris  they  have  a  church  building  in 
the  city  with  300  members,  unordained  minister;  one  day 
school — 50  pupils;  have  meetings  in  three  sugar  estates  near- 
by; one  day  school  and  a  hundred  members  in  the  sugar  estates. 

In  Santo  Domingo  City  they  have  a  little  store  building 
given  to  them  by  President  Boyer,  which  they  use  as  a  church. 
There  are  about  a  dozen  members  at  present.  The  only  other 
Protestant  church  building  in  the  city  is  a  little  ragged  chapel, 
across  the  street,  which  represents  a  split  from  its  near  neigh- 
bor. This  church  was  first  under  the  Missionary  Alliance, 
but  has  recently  been  transferred  to  the  Moravians.  Both  of 
these  churches  are  for  English  speaking  negroes.  The  Protest- 
ant Episcopalians  hold  services  for  Americans  in  the  Customs 
Collector's  building.     This  is  the  representation   of   Protest- 

49 


antism  in  the  capital  city  of  Santo  Domingo,  with  absolutely 
no  service  in  Spanish. 

The  work  of  the  Moravians  is  in  charge  of  Rev.  T.  Van 
Vlek,  located  in  San  Pedro  de  Macoris.  In  that  city  they  have 
a  church  building  and  parsonage  with  a  day  school  in  the 
church.  They  also  have  a  small  church  building  at  La  Romana 
with  two  or  three  other  preaching  points.  All  of  their  work 
is  for  English  speaking  negroes. 

The  Wesleyan  Methodists  have  had  work  in  Santo  Do- 
mingo for  at  least  a  half  century.  It  is  in  charge  of  Rev.  W. 
E.  Mears,  the  only  foreigner  employed  by  the  Wesleyan  Board 
in  Santo  Domingo.  He  has  been  in  Santo  Domingo  for  over 
thirty  years,  but  is  discouraged  because  of  lack  of  support 
from  the  home  base.  There  is  an  English  speaking  church 
at  Puerto  Plata,  which  has  a  good  building  on  a  hill,  and  has 
exerted  a  fine  influence  in  the  community.  Mr.  Mears  has  also 
recently  begun  meetings  in  Spanish,  which  are  conducted  by 
a  young  convert  in  a  rented  room.  There  are  small  Wesleyan 
congregations  in  Sanchez,  Samana  and  Monte  Cristi. 

A  few  earnest  people  belonging  to  the  Free  Methodist 
Church  came  as  independent  workers  to  northern  Santo  Do- 
mingo in  about  1890,  and  began  work  in  Spanish.  The  mission 
has  had  a  checkered  career.  There  are  now  two  men  and  four 
women  workers,  located  in  Santiago,  La  Vega  and  San  Fran- 
cisco de  Macoris.  It  is  a  great  pity  that  the  earnest  devotion 
of  these  workers  is  not  equaled  by  the  equipment  with  which 
they  are  compelled  to  struggle.  The  school,  conducted  at  San 
Francisco  de  Macoris,  is  exerting  a  splendid  influence  in  the 
community,  though  suffering  greatly  from  lack  of  help.  The 
seemingly  inevitable  split  has  come  in  this  work  also,  and  a 
native  has  led  out  a  little  group,  which  calls  itself  the  national 
church. 

The  Episcopal  Church  has  just  begun  work  in  the  Republic 
with  a  rented  chapel  at  Santo  Domingo  City.  This  is  at  pres- 
ent in  charge  of  Archdeacon  Wylie,  who,  with  his  good  wife, 
is  indispensable  to  the  American  colony  in  Santo  Domingo. 
At  San  Pedro  de  Macoris  there  is  also  a  small  church  which 
is  Episcopalian  in  its  general  teaching  but  whose  connection 
with  the  church  authorities  is  a  very  loose  one.  Other  services 
are  held  as  opportunity  offers  in  nearby  towns  and  sugar 
plantations.    The  present  work  and  all  planned  is  in  English. 

Bishop  Colmore  of  Porto  Rico,  in  charge  of  this  work,  has 
the  following  to  say  concerning  it : 

50 


"San  Domingo  is  not  a  Negro  republic,  although  it  shares  the 
same  island  with  Haiti.  We  are  proud  of  our  government  as  we  see 
what  she  is  doing  for  these  weaker  people  torn  by  revolutions. 

"While  there  is  a  dense  population  it  is  almost  entirely  a  rural 
one.  We  must  educate  these  people  along  industrial  lines  so  that 
they  may  know  how  to  be  good  citizens  under  the  conditions  in 
which  they  will  live  for  the  rest  of  their  lives.  They  must  be  taught 
the  dignity  of  labor.  Not  long  ago,  I  had  an  application  from  a  young 
Haitian  boy  to  be  received  as  a  postulant  for  the  ministry.  The  head 
of  the  agricultural  school  had  asked  me  to  send  him  two  of  our  boys 
and  I  thought  this  was  a  good  opportunity  to  give  him  just  the 
training  he  needed.  So  I  told  him  of  this  opportunity  to  get  training 
with  his  hands  to  begin  with,  but  he  said,  'No,  I  don't  want  to  work, 
I  want  to  go  into  the  ministry.'  There  are  thousands  and  thousands 
of  children  there  without  opportunity  for  education  at  all,  and  thous- 
ands and  thousands  of  people  who  are  living  without  any  medical  help 
except  what  the  witch  doctors  give  them. 

"One  important  element  in  our  work  is  the  English-speaking 
negro.  They  have  come  to  Porto  Rico  in  many  thousands  from  the 
islands  where  the  Anglican  Church  is  at  work.  We  have  much  I  i 
learn  from  our  brethren  of  the  English  Church.  One  morning  during 
my  visit  to  our  new  possessions  the  Virgin  Islands,  as  the  guest  of 
the  Bishop  of  Antigua,  I  went  to  one  of  the  early  services  and  saw 
the  white  people  and  the  black  people  kneeling  round  God's  table 
together.  We  have  many  of  these  people  in  the  Dominican  Republic. 
There  are  estimated  to  be  at  least  20,000  in  that  republic  alone.  Will 
you  believe  it  when  I  tell  you  that  there  is  only  one  clergyman  of 
the  Anglican  communion  to  take  care  of  those  people?" 

A  report  was  issued  in  1915  concerning  the  occupancy  of 
Santo  Domingo  by  Evangelical  missions  by  the  Rev.  Philo 
\V.  Drury,  who  made  a  trip  to  the  field  to  study  the  situation. 
While  this  was  a  year  before  the  American  occupation,  since 
when  many  changes  have  taken  place,  it  seems  well  to  quote 
the  following  from  the  report : 

"There  are  a  number  of  reasons  that  make  immediate  occupancy 
of  the  Dominican  Republic  especially  urgent.  A  new  era  of  political 
stability  and  material  progress  seems  to  have  been  inaugurated. 
Along  with  the  material  progress  there  is  an  honest  effort  being  made 
to  advance  the  educational  interests  of  the  country.  These  facts 
suggest  the  urgency  of  introducing  the  Gospel  at  this  time,  and  getting 
into  the  current  of  improvement  and  progress,  and  thus  grow  up  with 
the  country.  Effort  made  now  will  undoubtedly  give  larger  returns 
than  at  any  future  time. 

"The  cost  of  work  will  be  high.  On  account  of  the  nigh  tarifl 
the  cost  of  living  is  somewhat  greater  than  in  Porto  Rico.  The  Gov- 
ernment architect,  who  has  had  experience  in  building  both  in  Porto 
Rico  and  in  Santo  Domingo,  estimates  that  the  cost  of  building  in 
Santo  Domingo  would  be  double  what  it  is  in  Porto  Rico.  Other  in- 
vestigations have  led  us  to  believe  that  the  cost  of  maintaining  mis- 
sions in  Santo  Domingo  would  be  some  fifty  per  cent  more  than  in 
Porto  Rico. 

"Another  difficulty  to  be  considered  is  the  anti-American  spirit 
that    exists.     The    United    States    looms    up    over    the    horizon    as    a 

51 


powerful  neighbor  who  may  have  designs  against  the  political  in- 
dependence of  the  Republic.  The  intercourse  that  the  Dominicans 
have  had  with  Americans  has  been  almost  wholly  of  a  political  and 
commercial  character,  and  these  relations,  we  are  sorry  to  say,  have 
often  been  of  such  a  nature  as  to  awaken  antipathy  in  the  minds  of 
the  Dominicans  against  the  Americans.  However,  Mr.  W.  W.  Rus- 
sell, United  States  Minister  to  Santo  Domingo,  informed  us  that  this 
anti-American  spirit  is  not  universal,  and  while  it  frequently  mani- 
tests  itself,  it  is  in  the  main  limited  to  the  disgruntled  and  obstruc- 
tionist element. 

"The  difficulties  are  not,  however,  of  sufficient  weight  to  deter 
God's  people  from  obeying  the  Great  Commission  and  from  includ- 
ing Santo  Domingo  in  their  program.  There  are  other  things  that 
ought  to  encourage  them  to  go  up  and  possess  this  land.  There  is 
complete  religious  freedom  in  the  Republic.  There  is  already  a 
breaking  away  from  the  domination  of  the  Catholic  Church.  A 
proof  of  this  may  be  found  in  the  laws  passed  against  the  protest  of 
the  clergy  relative  to  the  liberty  of  worship,  the  modernizing  of  the 
school  system,  etc. 

"Many  of  the  facts  herein  stated  demonstrate  clearly  that  the 
people  of  Santo  Domingo  have  entered  with  determination  on  the 
struggle  upward,  and  we  are  convinced  that  they  are  deserving  of 
the  help  that  will  come  from  the  introduction  of  Evangelical  Christ- 
ianity. Here  the  lottery  prevails  with  the  authorization  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, but  not  all  of  the  people  approve  the  lottery  system.  In  a 
very  exhaustive  report  made  to  the  Senate  for  the  year  1910,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasurer  condemns  in  the  severest  terms  the  lot- 
tery as  productive  of  idleness,  and  on  the  ground  of  haying  tendencies 
of  a  decided  immoral  character  he  pleads  for  its  abolition.  This  re- 
port, as  well  as  other  documents,  indicates  clearly  that  public  atten- 
tion is  being  drawn  to  this  and  kindred  problems  upon  whose  proper 
solution  depends  so  much  the  welfare  of  the  country.  Everywhere  is 
there  evidence  of  new  ideals,  and  the  general  tendency  is  upward. 

"Another  encouragement  is  the  constant  intercourse  between  Porto 
Rico  and  this  Republic.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  now  at  least 
15,000  Porto  Ricans  in  Santo  Domingo.  Many  of  these  have  already 
received  favorable  impressions  of  the  Gospel,  and  would  be  easily 
reached.  We  met  a  number  who  knew  us  in  Porto  Rico  and  they 
invariably  greeted  us  with  great  cordiality,  and  many  expressed 
the  desire  to  see  Evangelical  missions  opened  in  Santo  Domingo. 
In  many  cases,  no  doubt,  these  Porto  Ricans  would  help  to  over- 
come prejudice,  and  would  induce  the  Dominicans  to  attend  the 
services.  It  is  in  harmony  with  the  facts  to  state  that  in  the  work 
being  done  Protestant  Christianity  is  not  being  fairly  represented 
before  the  Dominican  people.  All  efforts  to  reach  them  have  been 
of  an  independent  character,  and  in  the  main  unsuccessful,  so  that  we 
give  credence  to  the  statement  made  some  four  years  ago  by  a 
Dominican  historian  that  'the  pastors  of  other  religious  sets  have 
not  converted  to  their  belief  one  Dominican.'  What  is  being  done  is 
one  of  the  strongest  arguments  in  favor  of  doing  something  more, 
in  order  that  Protestantism  may  have  a  fair  representation  before 
this  people." 

What  the  Christian  agencies  are  doing  to  give  the  Domin- 
ican people  a  new  way  of  life,  can  be  summed  up  in  a  few  words. 
The  Catholic  Church  is  extremely  weak  both  in  its  schools 


and  its  churches.  For  the  Protestant  Church  this  republic 
is  practically  a  virgin  field.  The  little  work  that  has  been 
done  is  largely  among  the  negroes,  so  that  many  believe  that 
the  evangelical  church  is  only  for  colored  people. 

The  very  fact  that  there  has  been  so  little  Protestant  work 
done  in  Santo  Domingo  leaves  the  field  free  for  the  beginning 
of  an  entirely  new  plan  of  action,  and  gives  opportunity  for 
a  united  program  without  the  introduction  of  a  divided  Pro- 
testantism. Several  of  the  Missionary  Boards  that  are  already 
doing  work  in  the  West  Indies  have  agreed  to  form  a  union 
board  of  trustees,  select  a  superintendent  of  the  work,  and 
carry  on  the  activities  unitedly  without  introducing  sectarian 
divisions  as  they  exist  in  the  United  States.  This  union  board 
of  trustees  will  have  the  entire  responsibility  for  administering 
the  work  under  the  co-operating  Boards. 

The  program  proposed  for  the  next  five  years  includes  the 
opening  of  two  principal  centers :  one  in  Santo  Domingo  City 
in  the  south,  and  the  other  at  Santiago  in  the  north.  The 
larger  program  in  Santo  Domingo  City  will  be  an  institu- 
tional church  erected  in  a  prominent  part  of  the  city.  This 
building  will  contain  a  large  auditorium  in  which  all  kinds 
of  community  services  can  be  held.  It  will  have  also  a  chapel 
and  rooms  for  classes,  clubs,  and  other  organized  activities. 
There  will  be  lectures  on  moral,  educational  and  religious 
topics;  courses  in  religious  education;  a  public  forum;  liter- 
ary societies;  boys'  and  girls'  clubs;  a  kindergarten  and  night 
school;  a  clinic  for  the  poor,  and  a  public  library.  An  indus- 
trial school  will  be  built  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city,  in  which 
will  be  given  courses  in  trades,  agriculture,  sanitation,  com- 
munity service,  preparation  for  rural  teaching,  and  domestic 
science.  A  hospital  and  nurses'  training  school  will  constitute 
another  important  part  of  these  activities. 

In  Santiago,  a  similar  program  will  be  developed,  with  the 
exception  of  a  hospital,  which  will  probably  not  be  necessary, 
since  a  good  municipal  hospital  is  now  being  built.  Co-opera- 
tion in  the  proper  conducting  of  the  hospital  and  providing  of 
personnel  can  be  given  if  necessary. 

Four  smaller  centers  are  to  be  opened,  the  principal  equip- 
ment being  an  institutional  church  with  an  auditorium  of 
sufficient  size  for  conducting  community  meetings  and  show- 
ing educational  films;  rooms  for  night  classes,  clubs,  courses 
in  religious  education,  and  a  public  library.  The  four  points 
suggested  for  these  institutional  churches  are  San  Pedro  de 
Macoris,  Puerto  Plata,  Sanchez,  and  A/.ua. 

53 


PART  SECOND 

HAITI 

CHAPTER  I 

HISTORY 

THE  United  States  has  had  a  little  experience  in  colonial 
government  since  we  became  a  world  power,  following 
the  Spanish-American  War;  but  Haiti  differs  from  all 
the  rest  of  our  protectorates.  The  Philippines  come  nearest  to 
the  position  of  Haiti  in  presenting  difficulties  for  the  develop- 
ment of  a  stable  government,  but  Haiti  is  entirely  a  black 
man's  land.  Porto  Rico  has  the  greatest  proportion  of  white 
blood  of  any  of  the  West  Indies  and  has  shown  a  greater 
element  of  political  stability.  Cuba  has  a  population  about 
two-thirds  white ;  Panama's  population  is  very  mixed,  but  there 
is  at  least  a  dominating  class  with  Spanish  blood.  Santo 
Domingo  might  be  called  a  mulatto  republic,  but  the  intel- 
lectual element  is  largely  Spanish.  Nicaragua  is  predominantly 
Indian,  but  the  influential  political  force  is  of  almost  pure 
white  blood. 

Haiti,  however,  is  the  black  man's  paradise  and  presents 
an  entirely  new  problem  in  our  international  relations.  Only 
since  1899  have  white  men  been  able  to  hold  land  or  become 
citizens.  Very  few  white  men  have  taken  advantage  of  this 
provision.  Whites  in  Haiti  are  looked  upon  with  more  prejudice 
than  is  manifested  toward  the  negro  in  the  United  States. 
Thus  not  only  is  the  problem  complicated  by  the  low  scale 
of  civilization  existing  among  the  natives,  but  also  by  the  race 
prejudice  which  exists  between  the  white  man  of  the  United 
States  and  the  negro  people  of  the  country. 

The  original  population  of  Haiti  was  of  course  Indian,  but 
within  less  than  fifty  years  of  the  first  Spanish  occupation  of 
the  island  the  Indians  had  been  practically  exterminated  and 
the  importation  of  negro  slaves  from  Africa  was  well  under 
way.  Slavery  was  abolished  in  1793,  but  not  until  such  a 
number  of  negros  had  been  imported  that  the  Indian  element 
had  disappeared  utterly  and  the  country  had  become  one  of 
as  pure  black  blood  as  could  be  found  in  Africa  itself. 

54 


Haiti  is  peculiar  among  the  American  Republics,  in  that 
her  language,  traditions,  many  features  of  her  form  of  gov- 
ernment in  the  past  and  many  of  her  customs  are  French. 
The  language  of  the  country,  while  more  French  than  anything 
else,  makes  the  patois  of  Louisiana  and  of  Quebec  seem  of 
almost  Parisian  purity  in  comparison.  This  Gallic  influence 
came  originally  from  the  French  freebooters  who  located  at 
first  on  Tortuga  Island  and  later  came  over  to  the  mainland. 

In  1795,  Spain  transferred  the  whole  island  to  France,  and 
the  French  colony  developed  in  numbers  and  riches.  Freedom 
of  the  slaves  was  granted  partially  by  the  French  authorities 
in  order  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the  blacks  in  repelling 
an  English  invasion.  This  being  successfully  accomplished, 
the  slaves  rose  against  the  French  and,  in  spite  of  all  the  en- 
deavors of  Napoleon,  succeeded  in  driving  practically  all  the 
white  men  from  the  island.  This  was  accompanied  by  a  rever- 
sion to  savage  barbarity  and  cruelty  which  rendered  the  island 
secure  to  the  black  men  for  a  long  time.  In  December  1806 
the  first  president  was  elected  under  the  constitution  of  the 
Republic  of  Haiti.  His  first  official  act  was  to  proclaim  him- 
self king.  This  led  to  civil  war,  and  the  republic  has  since 
then  maintained  but  a  precarious  existence. 

Of  the  twenty-five  presidents  who  had  held  office  down 
to  1903,  three  were  assassinated ;  one  died  from  wounds  re- 
ceived in  his  palace;  one  committed  suicide;  fifteen  were 
driven  out  by  revolutions,  thirteen  of  whom  sought  safety  in 
exile ;  three  died  in  office.  One  has  had  the  distinction  of  living 
out  his  term,  retiring  and  dying  a  natural  death  in  his  own 
country.  It  is  no  wonder  that  with  all  these  revolutions  pros- 
perity was  destroyed.  The  island  was  once  one  of  the  great- 
est sugar  producing  regions  of  the  world  and  one  of  the  most 
highly  prized  of  French  colonies. 

Roads  which  formerly  traversed  the  island  in  all  directions 
are  overgrown  with  trees  a  hundred  years  old;  plantations 
that  yielded  princely  incomes  have  gone  back  to  the  jungle, 
while  palaces  and  bridges  are  but  picturesque  ruins. 

In  1914  Great  Britain,  Germany  and  France  made  demands 
for  the  control  of  customs  in  order  to  protect  their  loans.  The 
Haitian  government  suspended  all  payments  on  obligations 
at  the  beginning  of  the  European  war.  The  president, 
Theodore,  found  himself  in  such  a  difficult  position  that  he 
committed  suicide  in  1915.  Preceding  his  death  Admiral 
Caperton,  with  a  portion  of  the  United  States  South  Atlantic 
Fleet,  was  ordered  from  Vera  Cruz  to  Port  au  Prince.  July 
27,  1915,  marked  the  beginning  of  a  ten-days'  reign  of  terror 

55 


in  the  capital.  The  new  President,  Guillaume-Sam,  suspected 
everyone.  One  hundred  and  sixty  representative  men  of  the 
city  were  thrown  into  jail  and  held  as  hostages.  Some  of  his 
troops  revolted  against  him.  Seeing  that  he  would  be  com- 
pelled to  flee,  he  caused  the  death  of  the  one  hundred  and 
sixty  political  prisoners  and  then  made  his  escape  to  the 
French  legation.  When  the  populace  heard  of  this  wholesale 
murder,  the  mob  invaded  the  French  legation,  dragged  Sam 
out  into  the  streets,  hacked  his  body  into  pieces  which  were 
distributed  as  souvenirs,  and  marched  through  the  streets  with 
the  head  of  the  unfortunate  president  stuck  on  a  pole. 

Admiral  Caperton,  notified  by  the  French  minister  of  the 
terrible  situation,  landed  marines  on  July  29th.  Six  Haitians 
and  two  Americans  were  killed  in  the  fight.  On  August  12th, 
under  American  auspices,  an  election  was  held  which  resulted 
in  the  naming  of  General  d'Artiguenave  as  President.  Elected 
under  American  supervision,  he  was  of  course  sympathetic 
with  the  American  occupation  and  soon  agreed,  in  spite  of 
bitter  opposition,  that  a  convention  be  entered  into  with  the 
United  States,  which  would  provide  for  the  control  of  ex- 
penditures and  the  maintenance  of  order  by  that  country.  The 
chief  provisions  of  this  convention  are  as  follows : 

First:  American  control  of  customs  and  an  American 
financial  advisor.  Second :  Organization  of  a  Haitian  gen- 
darmerie, officered  by  Americans.  Third :  United  States  to 
manage  all  expenditures  of  public  moneys,  and  to  pay  the  in- 
terest and  sinking  fund  of  the  public  debt,  turning  the  excess 
income  over  current  expenses  back  to  the  Haitian  govern- 
ment. Fourth :  Haiti  to  cede  no  territory  to  any  nation  but 
the  United  States.  Fifth :  No  Haitians  to  be  allowed  to  carry 
arms.  Sixth :  Convention  to  last  ten  years  and  an  equal  addi- 
tional period  if  its  objects  were  not  accomplished  by  that  time. 
Military  law  was  established  by  the  U.  S.  Occupation  and 
exists  to  this  day.  Under  it  are  punishable  offences  against 
the  statutes  of  the  U.  S.  A.,  against  political  affairs  of  Haiti 
and  the  law  governing  the  possession  and  use  of  firearms ;  in 
all  other  matters  Haitian  law  prevails,  and  is  administered  by 
the  courts.  The  country  is  policed  by  a  native  corps  officered 
by  Americans.  Of  the  Occupation  nearly  all  officers  and  men 
are  stationed  in  Port-au-Prince  and  Cap  Haiti.  In  the  former 
the  men  live  in  barracks  while  at  the  Cape  they  live  in  camp, 
the  officers  for  the  most  part  occupying  private  houses. 
Brigadier  General  Catlin,  officer  commanding  the  U.  S.  Ex- 
peditionary Force  in  Haiti  and  who  was  wounded  at  Chateau 
Thierry,  has  his  headquarters  at  Port-au-Prince. 

56 


CHAPTER  II 
CROSSING  THE  ISLAND 

THE  trip  from  Cap  Haitien  on  the  north  to  Port-au-Prince 
in  the  south  of  Haiti,  a  distance  of  180  miles,  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  in  the  world.  It  has  only  been 
during  the  last  two  years  that  the  American  military  forces 
have  made  the  trip  possible  except  on  horse  back.  It  was  a 
very  doubtful  enterprise  which  a  Secretary  of  Commission  on 
Training  Camp  Activities  and  I  set  out  to  accomplish  in  his 
Ford  car.  Reports  had  it  there  that  it  was  very  dangerous, 
if  not  impossible,  for  two  reasons,  the  bad  roads  and  the 
"Cacos"  as  the  Haitian  bandits  are  called.  Loaded  with  extra 
tires  and  other  repair  material  for  the  machine,  a  couple  of 
Smith  and  Wesson  forty-fives  and  a  good  shot  gun,  we  left 
Monte  Cristi,  D.  R.,  on  a  Friday  morning.  A  two-hour  drive 
brought  us  to  the  Masacre  River,  the  dividing  line  between 
the  Dominican  Republic  and  Haiti.  At  the  river  side  we  found 
the  interesting  town  of  Dajabon,  and  one  of  the  prettiest  open 
air  markets  that  I  have  ever  seen,  with  all  kinds  of  tropical 
fruits,  including  the  ever  present  mango,  the  aguacate,  the 
plantain,  and  many  others  that  I  had  never  seen  before.  It 
is  a  real  international  exchange  as  the  Haitians  come  across 
the  river  to  buy  and  sell,  expecting  the  same  thing  of  the 
Dominicans  on  their  market  day  in  Quanaminth,  on  the  follow- 
ing Tuesday. 

We  found  the  river  was  up  higher  than  it  had  been  known 
to  be  for  a  long  time,  due  to  a  very  heavy  rain  the  night  before. 
Our  first  impression  was  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  us 
to  cross,  but  the  obliging  lieutenant  of  the  Dominican  "guardia 
nacional"  (the  national  police  force  organized  by  the  Marines, 
in  which  Dominican  privates  are  officered  by  marines  detailed 
for  this  duty),  assured  us  that  the  natives  could  push  the  car 
through,  if  we  would  get  out  of  the  way  all  our  baggage  that 
we  didn't  want  wet  and  stop  up  our  engine  to  keep  the  water 
out.  After  waiting  for  a  couple  of  hours  to  let  the  river  drop  a 
bit,  which  it  was  doing  very  rapidly,  I  took  the  baggage  across 
in  a  row  boat  and  the  chauffeur  guided  the  faithful  flivver 
into  the  muddy  and  rushing  waters,  while  ten  husky  Haitians 

57 


stripped  of  all  the  bothersome  trappings  of  civilization,  shoved 
the  car  through  safely  to  the  opposite  shore.  A  picture  of 
the  never-to-be-forgotten  scene  will  show  the  American  and 
the  Ford,  the  water  rushing  over  the  seat,  the  naked  negroes 
shoving  and  pushing  and  perspiring  from  their  exertion,  but 
it  cannot  tell  of  all  the  yelling  and  cursing  and  singing  and 
"heave  altogether"  of  the  natives.  Such  a  mixture  of  the 
modern  and  of  "darkest  Africa"  one  could  not  imagine.  On 
either  side  of  the  straining,  struggling  men,  were  women,  with 
great  baskets  of  fruit  and  all  kinds  of  trinkets  securely  balan- 
ced on  their  heads,  as,  they,  with  their  slips  of  dresses  rolled 
up  above  the  water  line,  were  slipping  and  sliding  through 
the  swift  stream  in  order  to  get  their  products  to  the  market 
or  their  purchases  back  home.  Often  they  led  a  horse,  with 
a  youngster  clinging  on  its  back  and  another  person  swing- 
ing to  its  tail,  thus  being  pulled  through  the  swift  current 
with  a  little  more  surety  of  not  slipping.  It  was  worth  a  trip 
from  New  York  to  Haiti  to  see  this  characteristic  scene. 

Such  was  our  introduction  to  Haiti !  A  month  in  Santo 
Domingo  had  made  us  feel  as  if  that  must  be  in  some  ways  the 
most  backward  of  all  countries.  But  I  began  to  appreciate 
the  remark  of  a  group  of  travelers,  one  of  whom  had  said  that 
when  he  came  from  Santo  Domingo  City  to  San  Juan  he  felt 
as  though  he  were  going  into  New  York  City,  so  great  was 
the  contrast.  Another  added  that  in  the  same  way,  in  coming 
from  Port-au-Prince  to  Santo  Domingo,  one  felt  that  he  was 
going  into  New  York.  The  difference  between  Santo  Domingo 
and  Haiti  is  very  marked.  We  had  now  come  into  the  coun- 
try where  the  black  man  is  supreme.  And  all  the  time  we 
were  in  the  country  districts,  and  a  good  deal  of  the  time  we 
were  in  the  cities,  we  felt  that  we  were  in  the  heart  of  Africa. 

Once  across  the  river  into  Haiti  we  began  to  realize  an- 
other thing — how  much  denser  the  population  is  than  we 
had  found  it  in  Santo  Domingo.  On  the  country  roads  there 
is  a  constant  procession  of  people,  all  evidently  going  to  or 
coming  from  market  in  nearby  towns.  On  our  first  day's  drive 
it  seemed  to  me  we  must  have  passed  thousands  of  women 
and  children,  some  on  horses,  more  on  burros  but  most  of 
them  on  foot,  with  great  burdens  on  their  beasts  or  on  their 
heads.  The  majority  of  the  women  had  baskets  of  fruit  on 
their  heads,  but  there  were  chickens,  dye  wood,  cotton, 
Standard  Oil  cans,  trinkets,  and  a  thousand  things,  balanced 
absolutely.  Sometimes  there  would  be  a  regular  Woolworth 
tower  built  up,  with  a  hat  hung  on  one  side  and  a  tin  can  on 
the    other   so   that  it   would    seem   impossible    to   keep    the 

58 


equilibrium,  especially  as  there  was  often  a  baby  thrown  on 
the  side  of  the  hip,  where  it  rode  with  perfect  unconcern. 

A  woman  will  walk  with  one  of  these  heavy  loads  twenty, 
twenty-five  and  thirty  miles  to  market.  If  you  should  try  to 
buy  her  products  before  she  has  reached  town  she  would  most 
likely  refuse,  for  about  all  the  joy  she  gets  in  life  is  going 
to  market  where  she  will  sit  all  day,  usually  in  the  hot  tropical 
sun,  gossiping  with  her  neighbors  and  bargaining  with  the 
customers.  A  basket  of  fruit  will  bring  two  or  three  gourdes 
(a  gourde  equals  20  cents  gold),  and  a  burro  load  of  dye  wood 
or  cotton,  which  often  requires  three  days'  travel  to  get  to 
market,  will  sell  for  six  or  seven  gourdes.  Of  course,  it  takes 
very  little  labor  to  raise  these  things.  Here  one  actually  finds 
such  an  expensive  article  as  cotton  growing  on  trees — bushes 
averaging  about  fifteen  feet  in  height,  which  grow  wild  and 
produce  a  fair  grade  of  cotton. 

As  one  drives  along  the  road  and  sees  the  constant  proces- 
sion of  women  and  children  moving  up  and  down  like  ants 
preparing  for  a  winter's  siege,  the  natural  question  is  "where 
are  the  men?"  Well,  in  the  first  place,  many  have  been  killed 
off  by  the  constant  revolutions.  Those  remaining  are  afraid 
to  venture  out  too  much  lest  they  be  forced  into  a  fresh  military 
uprising  of  some  kind.  So  they  stay  at  home  resting  or  per- 
haps tending  the  garden  a  bit  or  telling  the  women  folks  who 
are  left  at  home,  how  to  do  the  necessary  work.  A  man's 
family  interests  are  generally  pretty  large,  as  can  be  under- 
stood when  the  following  remarks  of  an  old  man  are  consider- 
ed :  "Well,  I  am  getting  old.  When  I  was  young  I  used  to 
have  ten  wives,  but  now  they  have  all  left  me  but  two."  Of 
course  there  is  little  regard  for  marriage  in  our  sense  of  the 
word  among  these  primitive  people.  Here  is  one  country 
where  statistics  on  legitimacy  are  not  kept.  I  was  told  that 
in  the  cities  the  women  of  the  better  classes  generally  main- 
tain faithful  relations  to  one  husband.  But  the  men  often  have 
a  plurality  of  wives — a  man  of  the  higher  classes  having  one 
real  wife  and  other  women  of  a  lower  class,  whom  he  may 
quite  publicly  support  with  their  children,  who  are  not  in- 
frequently brought  into  the  legitimate  family  as  servants; 
the  relationship  being  entirely  understood  by  all  concerned. 

The  fact  is  that  the  people  of  the  country  districts,  which 
means  over  ninety  per  cent  of  the  population,  are  little  above 
the  animal.  The  women  seem  to  have  little  sense  of  modesty. 
Men,  women  and  children  live  in  little  shacks,  all  sleeping 
huddled  together,  as  they  also  do  on  the  side  of  the  road  when 
night  overtakes  them.      An  army  officer  told  me  of  a  prisoner 

59 


that  had  just  been  brought  in  from  the  hills,  who  acted  just 
like  an  animal,  eating  the  mud  that  was  on  his  arms  and  trying 
to  chew  the  rope  with  which  he  was  bound. 

Some  American  officers  who  have  worked  long  with  the 
rural  Haitians  feel  that  the  outlook  for  their  education  to  high- 
er standards  is  not  encouraging,  especially  with  those  who 
have  already  attained  years  of  maturity.  The  children,  they 
maintain,  are  unusually  bright  and  full  of  promise. 

Cap  Haitien,  the  principal  town  in  the  north  and  second  in 
size  in  the  Republic  is  on  the  sea,  sixty  miles  from  where  we 
crossed  the  border  at  Quanaminth.  We  reached  there  about 
four  p.  m.  and  after  reporting  to  the  Major  in  charge  of  the 
Marines,  went  to  the  "New  York  Hotel"  to  stay  over  night. 
I  will  not  enter  into  a  description  of  the  Haitian  hotels.  Lan- 
guage would  fail  me.  The  Dominican  lady  who  kept  this  inn 
however  was  very  much  delighted  to  hear  her  native  Spanish 
spoken  and  killed  the  fatted  calf  for  us.  In  an  hour's  time, 
she  had  set  before  us  grape  fruit,  ham  and  eggs,  fried  chicken, 
plantain,  yams,  guava  jelly,  and  other  good  things.  Plentiful 
praise  of  this  m,eal  and  of  Santo  Domingo  brought  forth  a 
dinner  a  few  hours  later  that  made  our  lunch  look  like  the 
proverbial  thirty  cents.  Although  we  left  at  six  the  next  morn- 
ing she  had  coffee  and  eggs  for  us  and  a  lunch  arranged ;  all 
of  which  proved  my  theory  that  you  can  get  anything  in  reason 
from  a  Latin  American  by  speaking  his  language  and  being 
"simpatico." 

Cap  Haitien  has  regular  calls  from  steamers  of  the  Royal 
Dutch  Line  sailing  from  New  York  to  Suranim  and  French 
Line  from  Panama,  West  Indian  ports  and  to  France.  Various 
freighters  and  tramps  continually  call  to  take  away  coffee, 
cocoa,  dye  wood,  cotton,  honey,  sugar,  various  hard  woods 
and  other  products  which  are  raised  in  this  wonderful  fertile 
soil. 

Cap  Haitien  has  a  population  estimated  at  from  thirty  to 
forty  thousand.  It  seems  to  be  more  progressive  than  the 
capital.  There  is  a  railroad  running  about  23  kilometers  into 
the  country — part  of  the  system  planned  long  ago  to  connect 
Cap  Haitien  with  the  capital.  The  other  end  of  this  system, 
from  Port-au-Prince  to  St.  Marc,  a  distance  of  103  kilometers, 
is  also  in  operation,  as  is  a  small  section  about  half  way  be- 
tween the  two  cities.  This  will  eventually  be  completed  and 
will  mean  much  to  the  industrial  development  of  the  island. 

The  largest  store  in  the  town  is  an  American  auto  supply 
house  which  has  branched  out  into  handling  many  other  lines. 
The  native  stores  all  seem  very  small,  though  behind  their 

60 


display  rooms  some  of  them  carry  a  very  large  reserve  stock. 
This  is  a  custom  of  Latin-American  stores,  which  do  not  think 
much  of  elaborate  display  of  stock,  so  that  often  a  store  that 
seems  very  small  from  the  front  will  have  an  immense  stock 
in  the  rear  warerooms.  A  search  in  the  shops  failed  to  reveal 
anything  of  interest  to  a  foreigner.  There  is  not  even  enough 
enterprise  to  have  souvenir  postal  cards.  There  is  no  pretty 
plaza,  with  attractive  government  building  and  church  and 
club,  such  as  is  found  in  almost  every  Spanish-American  town. 
The  market  is  full  of  all  kinds  of  tropical  fruits,  an  infinite 
variety  of  crabs,  a  few  fish  and  poor  meat. 

The  Marine  Corps  has  about  one  hundred  men  stationed 
here  under  command  of  a  Colonel.  An  active  Chaplain  con- 
ducts one  of  the  best  recreation  centers  on  the  island.  A  Navy 
physician,  detailed  for  sanitation  work  under  the  Haitian  Gov- 
ernment claims  that  he  has  little  difficulty  in  getting  the 
Haitians  to  carry  out  the  few  simply  sanitary  regulations  that 
he  has  so  far  been  able  to  introduce.  The  American  consul  is 
a  negro  who  has  been  in  the  country  for  some  twenty  years. 
He  is  intelligent  and  accommodating,  and  evidently  makes  a 
very  acceptable  representative. 

By  far  the  liveliest  thing  in  town  while  I  was  there  was  a 
merry  go  round,  which  after  a  run  of  five  months  in  Port-au- 
Prince  had  just  been  set  up  by  an  American.  The  whole  town 
was  in  excitement  over  the  event.  The  little  sheet  called  a 
newspaper  gave  an  extravagant  notice  of  this  fragment  of 
Coney  Island  with  especial  attention  to  the  fine  music  box 
that  accompanied  it.  The  elite  of  the  city  were  in  attendance. 
Seats  on  the  horses  were  in  such  demand  by  the  grown  people, 
that  the  poor  children  hardly  got  a  chance.  The  machine  did 
not  stop,  but  merely  slowed  down  between  runs,  the  people 
swarming  on  while  the  platform  was  still  moving.  Most  of 
the  automobiles  of  the  city  were  parked  nearby  and  the  society 
folk  visited  back  and  forth  when  not  riding  as  if  between  the 
acts  at  grand  opera.  It  was  a  perfect  illustration  of  just  how 
naive  are  the  Haitians.  Any  kind  of  work  undertaken  for 
their  betterment  will  have  to  take  into  consideration  their 
long  isolation  from  the  very  commonplaces  of  modern  civilized 
life. 

The  location  of  Cap  Haiticn  on  a  semicircular  bay.  with 
mountains  all  around  as  a  background,  is  very  beautiful.  Here, 
Columbus  landed  on  his  first  voyage.  He  entered  the  bay  on 
Christmas  day,  1492,  and  for  that  reason  called  the  fort  he 
here  built,  "La  Navidad."  He  had  already  touched  at  a  point 
further  west  which  he  called  Puerto  de  Paz.  because  of  the 

61 


friendly  way  he  was  received  by  the  Indians,  who  invited  him 
to  visit  the  cacique's  residence,  farther  along-  the  coast.  About 
midnight  when  off  Cap  Haitien  one  of  his  vessels  was  caught 
in  a  current  and  swept  on  a  sand  bank  where  she  keeled  over. 
With  the  wreckage  of  the  vessel  Columbus  built  a  fort  in 
which  he  left  thirty-nine  men,  while  he  returned  to  Spain. 

Cap  Haitien  was  once  the  center  of  luxury  and  wealth, 
being  the  first  French  town  of  importance  on  the  Island.  Not 
far  away  to  the  north  west  is  the  island  known  as  Tortuga 
(Turtle)  which  was  for  so  long  the  headquarters  of  the  English 
and  French  buccaneers.  When  the  French  finally  took  entire 
possession  of  the  island,  they  overflowed  to  the  mainland  of 
Haiti  and  thus  began  the  French  influence,  which  as  far  as 
language  is  concerned  lasts  till  today.  Following  the  progres- 
sive period  under  French  control,  it  again  came  into  political 
prominence  as  the  capital  of  Christophe,  the  negro  who  aided 
Toussant  to  expel  the  French  in  the  early  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  and  then  set  up  an  independent  kingdom  in  the 
North,  with  the  title  of  King  Henry.  After  having  committed 
the  most  horrible  barbarities  using  every  imaginable  means  of 
torturing  the  whites,  all  of  whom  were  murdered,  he  burnt  the 
city  and  withdrew  to  the  hills,  where  he  erected  himself  a 
palace  and  a  most  remarkable  fort,  worthy  to  be  called  the 
eighth  wonder  of  the  world.  The  ruins  of  both  the  palace  and 
fort  may  be  seen  in  their  imposing  grandeur  by  a  visit  re- 
quiring a  day  on  horseback  from  the  Cape.  The  palace  called 
Sans  Souci  was  the  most  wonderful  building  of  the  West 
Indies,  and  even  in  its  present  decay  reveals  the  great  arches, 
huge  walls  and  terraced  gardens,  where  the  most  pompous 
king  in  the  history  of  the  negro  race  held  his  court.  His 
court,  as  created  by  him,  consisted  of  his  own  children  called 
"princes  of  the  royal  blood,"  eight  dukes — including  one  "Duke 
of  Lemonade" — thirty-seven  barons,  and  other  nobility,  all 
ex-slaves  or  sons  of  slaves,  and  all  as  black  as  the  ace  of 
spades.  The  King  himself  was  a  native  of  one  of  the  British 
West  Indies,  and  showed  the  influence  of  his  birth  as  a  British 
"object,"  as  the  West  Indian  Negros  call  themselves,  by  in- 
troducing a  number  of  Protestant  clergymen  into  his  court 
and  kingdom. 

Still  further  inland  from  his  palace  and  on  the  very  sum- 
mit of  the  pyramid-shaped  mountain  La  Ferriere,  the  king 
built  the  still  more  wonderful  fort,  about  which  are  related  the 
most  remarkable  stories  of  its  cost  in  human  lives.  But  those 
who  have  visited  the  place  say  that  no  story  would  seem  to 
exaggerate  the  superhuman  efforts  necessary  to  haul  up  the 

62 


steep  mountain  sides  the  great  cannon  that  still  remain  seated 
on  the  massive  walls  of  the  fort. 

"Above  the  summit  of  the  cone-shaped  mountain  the 
mighty  walls  of  the  fort  tower  upwards  for  one  hundred  feet. 
About  them  is  a  wide,  deep  moat,  spanned  by  a  single  draw 
bridge,  and  within  are  enormous  galleries  one  above  another, 
and  mounting  scores,  yes  hundreds,  of  cannon.  In  the  centre 
of  the  great  structure  is  the  tomb  of  the  king,  but  like  the 
treasure  vault  nearby,  open  and  rifled  of  its  contents.  But 
while  the  mortal  remains  of  the  black  monarch  have  long  since 
disappeared,  his  fort  still  stands  upon  its  lofty  perch  above  the 
wilderness  and  his  rusting  cannon  still  point  theft:  mute 
muzzles  towards  an  expected  foe  that  never  came  to  invade 
the  solitude  or  to  disturb  the  reign  of  the  negro  king." 

The  road  from  Cap  Haitien  to  Port-au-Prince  leads  first  of 
all  across  the  Limbe  River,  which  as  it  has  no  bridge  is  likely  to 
prove  troublesome  after  a  rain.  A  marine  officer  had  anticipat- 
ed this  and  telephoned  to  a  camp  near  by  to  have  the  prisoners 
there  to  shove  our  car  across.  So  it  happened  that  we  had 
about  the  same  experience  as  we  had  crossing  the  Masacre, 
but  with  less  mud  and  more  men,  the  crossing  was  more 
quickly  effected  and  with  no  cost  but  a  cigarette  apiece  to 
the  prisoners.  From  the  river  the  climb  over  the  mountain 
is  begun.  This  is  the  most  thrilling  part  of  the  trip,  both  be- 
cause we  were  then  getting  into  the  bandit  country  and  because 
the  road  itself  over  the  mountain  presents  many  thrills.  In 
about  an  hour  we  had  climbed  to  the  summit,  three  thousand 
feet  above  the  river  below.  The  road  zigzags  along  the  brow 
of  the  mountain,  and  often  there  are  only  a  few  inches  between 
you  and  an  abyss  of  several  hundred  feet.  Slow  and  careful 
driving  is  absolutely  essential  and  a  strong  nerve  and  con- 
fidence in  the  man  at  the  wheel  make  the  trip  more  pleasant. 
At  one  place  the  curve  is  so  sharp  that  a  large  car  has  to  make 
a  switch-back,  in  order  to  negotiate  the  turn.  Going  down 
the  mountain,  one  runs  suddenly  upon  this  place,  where,  if 
he  has  not  been  warned  to  have  his  car  under  absolute  control, 
he  might  easily  go  straight  ahead  five  or  six  feet  and  into  the 
valley  six  hundred  feet  below.  It  is  only  within  the  last  few 
weeks  that  there  has  been  even  a  small  log  placed  there  to 
indicate  the  danger.  As  we  stopped  to  let  the  engine  cool, 
we  caught  some  of  the  most  beautiful  vistas  imaginable,  with 
the  road  winding  around  down  the  valley  and,  away  below, 
the  river  like  a  silver  ribbon,  stretching  on  toward  the  sea. 
The  tropical  verdure  never  appeared  so  beautiful  as  from  an 
eminence  like  this. 

63 


Almost  at  the  summit  we  came  to  the  little  town  of  Plais- 
ance.  It  was  indeed  a  pleasant  little  place,  with  the  coolest 
of  breezes  and  its  picturesque  little  mountain  huts.  But  I 
could  sympathize  with  the  four  American  boys  who  had  been 
stationed  there  for  months.  The  latest  paper  they  had  seen 
was  four  months  old,  "And  look  at  these  people;  just  look  at 
these  people  we  have  to  live  with,"  said  one  as  he  told  us  with 
what  enthusiasm  he  had  enlisted  to  fight  in  France  and  instead 
had  been  sent  to  this  God-forsaken  place.  About  three  weeks 
before  the  "Cacos"  had  made  a  raid  on  the  town  and  there  was 
a  good  deal  of  excitement  as  a  result.  From  here  on  through 
to  Port-au-Prince  we  were  to  be  entertained  continually  by 
stories  of  fights  with  the  "Cacos,"  but  fortunately  these  gentry 
had  shifted  further  back  into  the  hills  away  from  the  mainroad. 

About  half  way  between  the  Cape  and  the  Port  is  found 
the  attractive  little  city  of  Gonaives,  third  in  size  and  im- 
portance of  Haitian  towns.  It  is  situated  on  a  beautiful  bay 
and  visited  by  small  coastwise  trading  craft.  Large  quantities 
of  mahogany,  dyewood  and  all  kinds  of  agricultural  products 
are  shipped  from  here.  Several  foreign  merchants  live  here, 
and  back  in  the  interior  is  found  some  of  the  richest  of  all 
the  rich  lands  of  Haiti,  if  any  can  be  said  to  excel  in  the 
general  fertility.  The  town  seemed  to  me  to  be  about  the  clean- 
est and  to  have  the  nearest  approach  to  culture  of  any  that  I 
visited.  Saint  Marc,  about  fifty  miles  south,  facing  the  same 
beautiful  bay  and  with  the  same  wonderful  surrounding  scene- 
ry, is  very  similar  in  appearance,  with  probably  a  few  less 
inhabitants  than  the  twenty  thousand  claimed  by  Gonaives. 
No  more  beautiful  site  could  possibly  be  found  for  a  town. 
As  we  wandered  through  the  streets,  watched  the  lazy,  half- 
clad  inhabitants,  put  up  for  the  night  at  the  "American  Hotel" 
absolutely  the  worst  hostelry  I  have  seen  in  forty  countries 
visited,  went  to  a  native  dance  where  scenes  of  unbelievable 
obscenity  were  witnessed,  and  then  went  down  on  the  sea 
shore  to  sit  in  the  moon  light  to  see  if  all  that  glorious  beauty 
could  take  the  awful  taste  out  of  our  mouths,  never  did  the 
words  of  the  old  hymn  seem  so  appropriate.  "Where  every 
prospect  pleases  and  only  man  is  vile." 

Between  Gonaives  and  Saint  Marc  is  the  Artibonite  River, 
the  largest  in  Haiti.  Here  indeed  is  a  veritable  Garden  of 
Eden,  where  everything  that  man  calls  precious  is  grown 
without  the  trouble  of  cultivation.  Riding  along  the  country 
road  which  is  lined  with  half  naked  natives  going  and  coming 
from  market,  or  sitting  in  the  shade  gossiping  and  exchang- 
ing products,  or  bathing  in  a  near-by  stream,  one  passes  all 

64 


manner  of  tropical  verdure,  palms,  the  great  royal  ones, 
and  the  more  useful  cocoanut,  coffee,  bananas,  sugar-cane, 
castor  beans,  aguacates,  and  mangos,  mangos,  mangos — every 
native  is  eating  a  mango.  Then  there  is  the  great  spreading 
flamboyant  tree,  with  its  beautiful  red  flowers,  and  orchids  by 
the  millions — enough  for  all  the  wives  of  all  the  presidents  of 
all  the  real  and  so-called  republics  of  the  world — and  great 
swarms  of  myriad-colored  butterflies.  For  miles  and  miles 
the  road  runs  through  this  verdure,  emerging  once  in  a  while 
on  to  the  seashore,  where  the  lazy  waves  run  up  under  the 
wheels  of  your  car  and  out  on  the  bluest  of  blue  waters  arc- 
seen  the  little  sailboats  of  the  native  fishermen.  As  the  spell 
of  the  tropics  gradually  possesses  you,  it  begins  to  be  very 
clear  why  people  here  are  not  particularly  interested  in  doing 
today  what  can  be  put  off  till  tomorrow. 

It  seems  a  far  cry  from  such  a  scene  as  this  to  bandits  and 
revolutions.  Yet  Saint  Marc  is  reputed  to  be  a  very  popular 
place  for  the  beginning  of  revolutions  and  its  vicinity  is  now 
supposed  to  contain  several  bands  of  "Cacos."  It  was  not 
without  gusto  therefore  that  we  took  into  our  car  the  Amer- 
ican captain  of  the  Gendarmes  of  this  section  who  wanted  to 
make  a  trip  to  a  neighboring  town  to  investigate  rumors  of 
"Caco"  activities  there.  This  Marine  had  been  in  this  same 
job  for  three  years  and  the  stories  he  told  us  of  his  experiences 
will  never  be  forgotten.  He  was  only  one  of  several  people 
we  found  waiting  on  the  road  for  some  conveyance  to  take 
them  to  the  next  town  and  were  able  to  accommodate.  An 
automobile  charges  all  the  way  from  a  hundred  to  a  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  for  the  trip  from  the  Port  to  the  Cape,  and 
from  Santiago,  S.  D.  to  Port-au-Prince  the  charge  is  at  least 
two  hundred  dollars.  Roads  are  rough,  rivers  are  likely  to 
be  up,  breakdowns  are  easy,  gasoline  is  eighty  cents  a  gallon 
and  delays  are  likely  to  lengthen  the  trip  indefinitely.  How 
thankful  we  were  then  to  pull  into  Port-au-Prince  on  Sunday 
morning  in  good  time  to  put  up  our  faithful  flivver,  find  a  hotel 
and  bath,  and  get  to  the  Episcopal  Church  at  10:30  for  service. 
Probably  it  was  because  I  had  been  "fed  up"  on  Columbus 
recently,  but  anyway  my  mind  kept  going  back  during  the 
service  to  how  natural  it  was  for  the  Discoverer  to  rai 
cross  as  his  first  act  when  he  landed  at  a  new  port  or  visited 
a  new  part  of  the  country. 

Port-au-Prince  is  a  city  of  some  90.000  people,  more 
than  twice  as  large  as  any  other  town  in  Haiti.  The  .'own- 
town  district,  stretching  from  the  wharf  up  to  the  "Champ 
de    Mars,"    a    large    unimproved    plaza,    is    made    up    chiefly 

65 


of  dirty,  unattractive,  two-story  frame  and  brick  buildings, 
many  of  them  leaning  heavily  on  their  neighbors  for  support. 
Stores  are  small,  unattractive  and  poorly  stocked.  There  is 
one  small  bookstore  in  the  place,  but  not  a  magazine  or  book 
in  English  can  be  bought  in  the  whole  city,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  there  are  about  a  thousand  American  officials 
and  marines  living  there  constantly.  One  shop  has  just  begun 
to  carry  a  few  Kodak  fdms  and  a  little  ice-cream  parlor  has 
been  opened  recently,  responding  to  the  marines'  demands. 
There  are  two  social  clubs  for  the  elite,  but  they  are  only  used 
for  cards  and  social  occasions.  There  are  two  small  motion 
picture  theatres  which  give  shows  on  alternate  nights.  There 
are  no  organized  sports,  except  horse-racing  and  cockfighting, 
and  no  athletic  grounds  or  clubs  where  young  men  can  gather 
for  innocent  play  or  study.  There  are  no  public  libraries,  night 
schools,  literary  societies,  public  lectures  or  other  means  for 
the  improvement  of  the  young  people.  No  community  service 
of  any  kind  is  carried  on  by  either  the  Catholic  churches  or 
the  three  small  Protestant  Churches  of  the  city.  There  is  one 
hospital  where  more  than  300  patients  are  continually  crowded. 

One  sees  few  cultured-looking  Haitian  women  on  the 
streets  of  Port-au-Prince,  and  on  the  entire  trip  from  Cap 
Haitien  to  Port-au-Prince,  we  passed  only  two  women  wearing 
shoes.  There  is  a  small  circle  of  the  privileged  class  women 
who  draw  their  styles  and  other  inspirations  directly  from 
Paris,  but  they  seem  to  keep  pretty  much  out  of  the  public 
gaze.  In  the  stores  French  is  spoken,  as  well  as  the  native 
patois. 

The  strongest  contrasts  of  the  old  and  new  are  found  on 
the  streets,  well  paved  under  American  direction,  where  a 
high-powered  car  will  blow  its  horn  to  scatter  a  bunch  of 
half  naked  black  men,  who,  as  unconcernedly  as  though  they 
were  out  in  the  Congo,  are  trotting  down  the  middle  of  the 
street  with  great  bags  of  coffee  balanced  on  their  heads,  all 
chanting  in  perfect  rhythm  a  native  African  air,  accompanied 
by  the  clang  of  a  kind  of  triangle  which  is  beaten  with  a  rail- 
road spike. 

Another  common  sight  is  a  crowd  of  barefoot  women, 
sitting  on  a  great  pile  of  coffee,  assorting  by  hand  the  various 
qualities,  while  their  sisters  swarm  back  and  forth,  always 
apparently  in  a  high  dudgeon  quarrelling  with  their  neigh- 
bors, as  they  distribute,  with  the  strength  of  Amazons,  the 
big  bags  of  coffee  to  their  proper  places. 

The  foreigners  in  Port-au-Prince  are  made  up  mainly  of 
Americans,   French,   Syrians   and   English   negroes  from   the 

66 


other  West  Indies.  There  are  about  a  thousand  Americans, 
practically  all  of  whom  belong  to  the  United  States  Navy  or 
Marine  Corps.  There  are  hardly  more  than  a  baker's  dozen 
of  American  merchants,  planters  and  sugar  men  but  this  num- 
ber is  destined  to  increase  rapidly.  There  are  some  five 
hundred  Frenchmen.  The  Syrians  are  very  prominent  in  com- 
mercial lines.  One  of  them  who  recently  came  to  open  busi- 
ness, brought  with  him  on  the  same  boat  a  stock  valued  at 
$80,000. 

French  is  the  commercial  language  but  most  of  the  whole- 
salers speak  English  also.  Those  who  deal  with  the  low  class 
negroes  must  speak  their  Creole  dialect  as  they  cannot  under- 
stand French. 

There  are  practically  no  factories  in  Port-au-Prince.  The 
coffee  industry  is  the  largest.  An  American  company  has  re- 
cently built  a  very  large  sugar  mill  just  outside  of  the  city. 
The  enterprise  has  failed  up  to  the  present  time  largely  be- 
cause they  did  not  contract  for  a  sufficient  supply  of  cane  to 
keep  the  mill  busy.  They  are  now  making  provision  for  this 
by  buying  large  tracts  of  land  which  they  will  cultivate  and 
also  by  contracting  with  the  natives  for  crops.  Another  im- 
portant American  firm,  lately  established  to  develop  the  castor 
bean  industry,  having  found  this  unprofitable,  is  now  turning 
to  general  agriculture.  This  firm  has  brought  down  a  num- 
ber of  agricultural  experts  who  are  experimenting  in  the  better- 
ment of  cotton  and  other  crops.  It  was  suggested  that  these 
experts  might  be  secured  to  help  in  any  agricultural  education 
that  the  mission  societies  might  develop. 

Health  conditions  in  Port-au-Prince  are  improving  under 
American  direction.  Housing  conditions  are  very  bad.  Large 
families  live  in  very  close  quarters  and  at  night  they  are  ac- 
customed, probably  due  to  the  long  siege  of  revolutions  which 
made  life  unsafe  after  sundown,  to  close  all  the  house  tightly, 
and  go  to  bed  very  early,  sleeping  with  practically  no  air. 
This  fact  is  given  as  the  explanation  for  the  large  amount  of 
tuberculosis  in  the  country.  A  great  number  of  young  men 
come  in  from  the  country  districts  looking  for  political  jobs 
and  experience  much  difficulty  in  finding  lodgings.  They  gen- 
erally must  stay  with  relatives  or  friends  and  add  one  more 
to  the  number  of  people  already  sleeping  in  the  same  room. 
A  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  with  dormitory  privi- 
leges could  do  a  splendid  work  with  such  young  men,  as  also 
with  the  students  who  come  from  the  outside  to  the  capital. 


67 


CHAPTER  III 
PROBLEMS  OF  AMERICAN  OCCUPATION 

THE  first  thing  to  do  either  in  Haiti  or  Santo  Doming 
is  to  report  to  the  local  American  officer  in  command. 
The  arrangements  between  our  military  forces  and  the 
local  authorities  in  the  two  countries  is  different,  however,  at 
least  in  theory.  In  Santo  Domingo  there  is  no  pretense  of 
federal  government  except  by  the  American  Military  forces. 
In  Haiti  there  is  a  president,  cabinet,  and  sometimes  a  Con- 
gress, with  governors  and  local  officials,  which  function  in 
certain  matters  as  long  as  they  are  willing  to  co-operate  with 
the  American  authorities.  There  is,  then,  a  dual  government 
in  Haiti,  one  the  native  government  and  the  other  the  Amer- 
ican Marines,  headed  by  the  General  in  command.  Probably 
a  man  of  still  more  power  is  the  Financial  Adviser,  an  Amer- 
ican, who  has  final  authority  over  the  various  items  of  ex- 
penditure by  the  national  treasury.  In  matters  like  sanitation, 
the  United  States  Government  details  an  officer  from  the 
Navy  or  the  Marine  Corps  to  serve  under  the  Haitian  Gov- 
ernment. The  Gendarmerie,  like  the  Guardia  Nacional  of 
Santo  Domingo  is  composed  of  native  soldiers  officered  by 
American  marines,  privates  or  sergeants,  who  have  been  de- 
tailed by  the  Marine  Corps  for  this  work  after  they  have  stood 
examination  in  elementary  French  and  in  Haitian  law. 
Marines  are  only  stationed  permanently  in  the  larger  towns, 
but  the  gendarmes  are  found  scattered  all  over  the  country, 
as  well  as  in  all  the  cities.  Where  both  forces  are  found  their 
barracks  are  in  different  parts  of  the  town.  As  the  officers 
of  the  gendarmes  are  only  enlisted  men  in  the  Marine  Corps 
and  the  private  gendarmes  are  Haitians,  there  is  naturally 
little  social  relation  between  the  two  organizations. 

The  marine  who  becomes  an  officer  in  the  gendarmerie  finds 
himself  clothed  with  practically  unlimited  power,  in  the  dis- 
trict where  he  serves.  He  is  the  judge  of  practically  all  civil 
and  criminal  cases,  settling  everything  from  a  family  fight  to 
a  murder.  He  is  the  paymaster  for  all  funds  expended  by  the 
national  government,  he  is  ex-officio  director  of  the  schools, 
inasmuch  as  he  pays  the  teachers.  He  controls  the  mayor 
and  city  council,  since  they  can  spend  no  funds  without  his 

68 


O.  K.  As  collector  of  taxes  he  exercises  a  strong  influence  on 
all  individuals  of  the  community. 

The  fight  being  waged  by  the  force  of  Marines  and  the 
Gendarmerie  for  the  extermination  of  the  "cacos"  or  bandits 
is  growing  more  serious  constantly.  While  we  were  not 
molested  on  the  main  road,  it  was  evident  everywhere  that 
we  were  in  a  country  where  there  was  real  war.  Most  of  the 
big  posts  were  stripped  of  men  except  barely  enough  to  do 
necessary  guard  duty,  the  rest  of  them  being  out  in  the  hills 
after  the  bandits.  These  outlaws  go  in  bands  numbering  from 
twenty-five  to  two  hundred  generally.  Not  more  than  twenty 
or  thirty  percent  are  armed  and  these  are  very  poor  shots,  so 
that  there  are  few  casualties  among  our  men.  They  are  now 
making  a  systematic  drive  and  closing  in  on  the  bandits  and 
in  some  battles  from  twenty-five  to  sixty  are  killed.  It  is  the 
hardest  kind  of  work  imaginable. 

The  bandits  may  be  sighted  on  top  of  a  hill,  and  by  the 
time  our  men  hike  to  the  spot  their  quarry  will  have  crossed 
over  to  the  next  hill  top  and  will  holloa  across  making  fun 
of  the  slow  Americanos.  There  is  nothing  to  do  but  keep  on 
chasing  them  until  by  strategy  or  by  forced  marches  they 
are  within  gunshot.  The  range  needs  to  be  close,  as  the  "cacos" 
are  little  affected  by  a  wound  that  would  put  an  ordinary  man 
out  of  business.  I  saw  one  man  who  had  been  accidentally 
shot  and  brought  into  the  fort  where  a  gendarme  was  probing 
for  the  bullet  with  what  looked  to  me  like  a  needle  used  to  sew 
up  potato  sacks.  The  blood  was  flowing  profusely  as  the 
probe  went  here  and  there,  but  the  man  lay  as  still  as  though 
absolutely  nothing  was  going  on.  After  seeing  that,  I  was 
more  ready  to  believe  the  stories  of  how  they  kept  on  coming 
after  they  had  been  shot  in  a  way  that  would  be  fatal  to  an 
ordinary  man. 

One's  heart  goes  out  toward  our  boys  who  are  engaged  in 
this  terrible  business.  Often  their  forced  marches  without  food 
last  for  many  long  hours  and  even  days.  Months  are  spent 
out  in  the  wild  country  without  seeing  any  civilized  life  what- 
ever, without  any  amusements,  without  even  a  newspaper  or 
magazine.  Even  in  smaller  towns  on  the  main  road  of  travel 
we  found  posts  where  the  men  had  not  seen  a  newspaper  f'»r 
four  months,  and  had  no  means  of  recreation  whatever.  Chap- 
lain Truitt  is  working  very  hard  on  this  matter  now,  however, 
and  has  just  succeeded  in  getting  a  motion  picture  machine 
sent  way  up  into  the  hills  in  the  interior  near  the  Dominican 
border  where  the  fighting  is  the  worst  and  living  conditions 
for  a  civilized  man  almost  unbearable. 


The  men  out  on  the  field  agree  that  the  situation  is  getting 
worse  rather  than  better.  They  only  see  an  end  to  it  when 
all  the  "Cacos"  shall  have  been  exterminated.  But  when  will 
this  be  accomplished?  In  the  killing  of  the  present  crop,  others 
are  grown.  While  Haiti  has  always  had  its  professional  re- 
volutionists and  country  bands  who  live  by  robbery,  there 
seems  to  be  a  general  agreement  that  the  present  acute  trouble 
was  developed  by  the  American  officers  of  the  gendarmerie 
enforcing  too  rigidly  an  old  law  requiring  men  to  work  the 
roads  four  days  a  month.  This  has  now  been  abandoned,  and 
all  road  workers  are  paid  a  gourde  (20  cents  gold)  a  day  for 
their  work.  But  the  opposition  to  government  has  been  aug- 
mented to  such  an  extent  that  the  American  authorities  see 
no  way  of  settling  it  except  by  the  sword.  In  the  short  time 
I  was  in  the  country,  I  was  not  able  to  form  a  proper  judg- 
ment as  to  whether  there  was  any  particular  political  program 
of  opposition  to  the  Americans  that  inspired  the  "Cacos,"  or 
whether  they  were  simply  a  lot  of  bandits  who  preferred  to 
live  by  pillage  rather  than  by  work. 

It  is  with  great  hesitancy  that  one  even  seemingly  passes 
criticism  on  our  American  Marines.  No  man  knows  but  that 
he  might  act  in  the  same  way  under  similar  conditions.  It  is 
the  machine,  not  the  man,  that  is  to  blame.  From  the  military 
standpoint,  it  is  natural  to  regard  all  life  as  cheap ;  especially 
when  stationed  in  a  country  where  people  are  little  above  the 
animal,  where  you  are  hated  and  your  life  is  sought,  if  not 
by  all,  at  least  by  organized  bands  who  compel  sleeping  with 
your  hand  on  your  gun,  and  where  if  ever  caught,  you  know 
you  will  be  subject  to  unmentionable  torture  before  you  meet 
a  horrible  death.  Under  such  conditions,  it  is  easy  to  live  up 
to  the  rule  of  "take  no  prisoners"  and  to  have  small  respect 
for  the  rights  and  property  of  those  who  have  no  respect  for 
you  and  little  for  themselves.  Military  life,  moreover,  does 
not  lend  itself  to  civil  reforms,  for  it  is  based  on  caste.  Dis- 
cipline is  only  maintained  by  obeying  without  question  your 
superior.  The  private  is  subject  to  the  ire  of  the  sergeant, 
the  sergeant  to  the  lieutenant,  the  lieutenant  to  the  captain, 
the  captain  to  the  major,  and  so  on.  And  very  likely  the  ire 
of  all  is  visited  on  the  civilian.  As  a  young  editor,  who  had 
to  take  his  paper  to  the  military  authorities  for  their  censor- 
ship before  it  was  published,  said:  "We  want  a  civil  govern- 
ment, so  we  can  approach  them.  You  go  to  see  one  of  the  mili- 
tary authorities.  You  know  he  is  a  very  fine  man.  But  he  has 
a  guard  at  his  door,  who  unceremoniously  and  profanely  tells 
you  to  'get  out,  and  do  it  quick !'  "    Is  it  any  wonder  that  the 

70 


bandit  situation  doesn't  get  better  under  such  treatment  or 
that  the  American  soldier  acts  as  he  does,  under  the  condi- 
tions described,  when  he  has  never  had  any  training  for  ad- 
ministrative or  democratizing  work? 

The  same  thing  applies  to  moral  life.  Who  will  throw  the 
first  stone  at  a  man  who  is  compelled  to  live  away  from  all 
that  is  pure  and  noble,  without  religious  or  moral  influences 
of  any  kind,  without  books  or  recreation  often,  without  even 
a  base  ball  or  a  victrola,  in  the  midst  of  the  vilest  native  life, 
where  men  have  little  virtue  and  women  small  sense  of  shame? 
The  whole  thing  is  absolutely  unnatural,  li  necessary  for  a 
few  months  under  extraordinary  conditions,  it  should  certainly 
not  be  permitted  through  the  years  that  men  cannot  get 
into  a  pure  atmosphere  or  see  good  women  of  their  own  race 
or  hear  a  moral  exhortation  for  two  or  three  years,  as  happens 
with  some  of  our  men  here. 

The  best  of  the  officers  in  Haiti  realize  that  the  situation 
is  not  satisfactory,  and  are  doing  what  they  can  to  correct  it. 
"So  far  we  have  done  little  for  Haiti  except  stop  the  graft. 
And  that  has  not  made  the  people  like  us.  It  is  time  we  were 
doing  some  constructive  service  for  these  people.  I  would 
like  to  see  you  begin  the  program  of  schools  and  hospitals 
you  have  outlined."  Thus  spoke  the  commander  of  the  Amer- 
ican Marines  in  Haiti.  Of  course  he  did  not  mean  that  literally 
because  already  much  lias  been  accomplished  in  the  building 
of  roads,  the  sanitation  of  the  cities,  the  improvement  of  the 
postal  service  and  other  public  activities.  The  national  debt, 
which  constantly  threatened  the  independant  life  of  the  nation, 
is  being  gradually  liquidated,  and  revolution,  that  stifled  all 
economic  development,  has  been  suppressed.  If  our  govern- 
ment is  to  go  forward  satisfactorily  with  the  tremendous  job 
it  has,  there  must  be  the  most  careful  selection  of  the  men 
who  are  sent  to  deal  with  these  people.  When  we  began  our 
work  in  the  Philippines  we  sent  a  man  like  Mr.  Tat't  to  begin 
the  development  of  the  people  into  a  democracy.  He  found 
much  the  same  conditions  as  now  exist  in  Haiti.  When  he 
began  to  talk  about  "our  little  brown  brother,"  it  took  strong 
measures  to  stop  the  sarcasm  of  the  soldiers  who  sang: 

"He  may  be  a  brother  of  William  II.  T. 
But  he  ain't  no  kin  to  me." 

But  the  new  spirit  prevailed,  and  today  the  development  of 
the  Filipino  toward  democracy  is  the  pride  of  every  Amer- 
ican. The  job  in  Haiti  is  a  harder  one.  but  it  can  be  done  by 
a  combination  of  American  administrators  of  the  highest  type 
and  the  schools  and  churches  of  American  Christianity. 

71 


CHAPTER  IV 
COMMERCE   AND   NATURAL   RESOURCES 

THE  natural  resources  of  Haiti  are  of  inestimable  value 
and  their  development  has  only  begun.  Her  riches  lie 
almost  entirely  in  her  remarkable  soil.  She  has  only 
10,200  square  miles  of  territory  and  is  now  supporting  a  popula- 
tion of  over  two  millions,  an  average  of  about  200  to  the  square 
mile.  The  most  important  commercial  production  is  coffee, 
of  which  78,572,559  pounds  were  exported  in  1914. 

Under  a  stable  government  Haiti  is  bound  to  attract  in- 
vestors and  in  a  very  little  time  is  destined  to  become  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  economic  life  of  the  American  Mediter- 
ranean. 

The  country  is  rich  with  the  wealth  of  the  tropics.  Coal 
and  other  mineral  riches  are  waiting  to  be  developed.  Forests 
of  valuable  woods  are  easily  accessible  from  the  railroads 
planned. 

The  chief  articles  of  export  are  coffee,  cotton,  cocoa,  log- 
wood, lignum  vitae,  mahogany  and  honey  with  coffee  by  far 
the  largest;  tortoise-shells,  sisal,  cocoanuts  and  sponges  find 
an  export  market,  but  the  trade  is  not  large.  Castor  beans 
have  come  into  prominence  during  the  past  year  or  more 
owing  chiefly  to  a  contract  placed  by  the  U.  S.  Government 
for  these,  the  oil  of  which  was  urgently  wanted  for  use  in 
aeroplanes. 

Considerable  areas  were  put  under  cultivation  by  the  con- 
tractors here  but  it  appears  doubtful  whether  early  anticipa- 
tions were  realized.  This  plant  seems  to  conform  to  some  of 
those  freaks  of  nature  which  rebel  against  things  usual  and 
which  prefer  to  isolate  themselves,  growing  best  where  un- 
attended and,  frequently,  where  least  expected,  from  which 
it  would  appear  that  the  enforced  cultivation  of  the  castor 
bean  must  necessarily  be  speculative,  so  far  as  production  is 
concerned. 

While  the  country  is  distinctly  agricultural  its  soil  has 
not  yet  been  even  scratched  and  faith  in  nature  has  hitherto 
been  preferred  to  work  of  man,  indeed  so  great  is  its  fertility 
no  real  cultivation  has  been  found  essential  and  this  fact  has, 
of  course,  had  its  effect  upon  the  character  of  the  people.  The 
working  class  is  poor,  the  ordinary  laborer  exceedingly  so, 

72 


and  he  lives  chiefly  upon  sugar  cane  with  rice  and  vegetables 
and  little  meat.  His  wage  is  20  cents  per  day  in  those  towns 
where  the  rate  of  pay  can  be  said  to  be  fixed  at  all.  Owing 
to  the  difficulties  of  subsisting  the  laborer  has  sought  other 
fields  and  there  has  been  a  large  exodus  to  Cuba  where  the 
rate  of  wages  is  5  to  6  times  greater.  But  as  elsewhere  through- 
out the  world  the  war  has  had  its  marked  effect  upon  Haiti 
and  signs  are  not  lacking  that  not  only  agriculturally  is  this 
country  likely  to  progress,  and  to  progress  rapidly,  from  now 
on  and  to  take  its  natural  place  in  the  world's  markets  as  an 
important  source  of  supply. 

At  all  the  ports  of  Haiti,  except  Port-au-Prince,  steamers 
find  no  wharf  to  which  to  come  and  goods  are  lightered  ;  the 
handling  is  crude.  Shipping  is  on  the  increase  and  already 
there  have  been  several  sailings  from  Port-au-Prince  and  other 
ports  direct  to  Havre  and  one  to  Liverpool.  Of  industrial 
factories  in  the  island  there  are  but  few,  the  principal  being 
the  sugar  factory,  several  tanneries,  an  oil  crushing  plant, 
ice  factories  and  two  tobacco  factories  the  larger  of  which 
is  situated  in  Port-au-Prince  and  is  managed  by  two  Amer- 
icans. While  the  manufacture  of  rum  amounts  in  the 
aggregate  to  an  industry  of  importance  there  is  no  one  large 
plant,  but  the  work  is  carried  on  everywhere  throughout  the 
country. 

Cotton  ginning  is  an  industry  about  to  be  carried  on  here 
on  quite  a  large  scale  to  which  end  American  capital  has  been 
freely  invested,  and  while  small  plants  have  long  existed, 
some  modern  machinery  run  on  the  latest  principles  is  about 
to  be  installed. 

Of  minerals  there  is  said  to  be  gold  in  paying  quantities 
in  at  least  one  section;  there  are  copper  mines  northwi 
Port-au-Prince,  and   iron   exists   still    further  north,   mar   the 
northern  coast. 

The  total  foreign  commerce  of  Haiti  was  approximately 
$18,000,000  in  1915.  Imports  and  exports  by  countries  of  origin 
or  destination  are  shown  below  for  several  years: 

IMPORTS 

Countries                             1911  1912  1913  1914  1915 

United     States $5,790,203  $7,302,484      $5.90S.K.r,6      $6,181,088      $3.<;08.A73 

United     Kingdom 886.517  781.208  895,818  400, Si  1  W 

France     331.849  1.050,418  817.335  345,190  187. 779 

Germany     439.732  484.915  535.513  888,004  20.509 

Other    Countries 499,816  277,534  211.972  138.099  53.574 

EXPORTS    (Estimated) 

United    States $1,000,000      $1,100,000      $1,000,000  $1,171,649  $1,494,927 

United  Kingdom 1,200,000        1.300.000           800.000  1.000,000  1.000. 000 

France     7,500,000       8.500,000       5.000.000  3,500.000  5,000.000 

Germany    5,400,000       6,100,000       4,200,000  3,000,000  100,000 

73 


CHAPTER  V 
EDUCATION  AND  SANITATION 

OF  COURSE,  Port-au-Prince  is  the  chief  educational  center 
of  the  country,  if  one  might  use  such  a  term  in  referring 
to  a  country  where  education  is  so  limited.  The  follow- 
ing are  the  principal  schools  above  the  grammar  grades:  the 
national  lycee,  the  Government  high  school  where  students 
are  prepared  for  the  medical  and  law  schools ;  two  Catholic 
lycees;  a  private,  industrial  and  engineering  school,  receiving 
a  government  subsidy;  and  a  commercial  school  conducted  by 
a  Jamaican  negro. 

The  two  Catholic  schools  are  much  the  best.  One,  con- 
ducted by  the  Brothers  of  St.  Louis,  is  a  splendid  institution 
with  some  700  students  enrolled,  running  all  the  way  from 
the  primary  up  through  the  high  school  grades.  Some  30 
brothers  from  France  and  Canada  give  themselves  to  teach- 
ing in  this  school.  The  property  is  well  kept  up  and  the  chil- 
dren are  clean  and  well  behaved. 

In  sharp  contrast  is  the  government  lycee,  which  is  about 
as  run  down  .at  the  heel  as  any  institution  I  have  ever  seen. 
The  building  is  dilapidated  and  out  of  repair.  A  few  pupils 
sit  on  straight-backed  benches,  around  a  rough  board  table, 
listening  to  a  professor  explain  a  problem  in  calculus  or  dis- 
sertate on  a  Greek  verb,  using  a  worn-out  blackboard  on  which 
the  writing  is  scarcely  visible.  The  dormitory  and  dining 
room,  where  some  20  students  from  outside  of  the  city,  are 
boarded,  are  primitive  beyond  description.  We  found  one  of 
the  professors  absent,  the  explanation  being  that  he  had  a 
case  to  plead  in  court  that  day.  All  of  the  professors,  of  course, 
are  occupied  in  other  things  and  only  come  to  the  institution 
to  give  their  lectures  at  certain  hours.  Two  of  the  professors 
have  opened  a  private  school  right  in  the  institution  itself, 
where  they  charge  tuition  to  coach  the  youngsters  in  prep- 
aration for  entrance  into  the  lycee.  The  patio  has  a  large 
slice  taken  out  of  it  by  a  citizen  who  was  a  power  in  one  of 
the  political  regimes  and  extended  his  residence  property  back 
into  the  patio  and  built  a  wall  around  it. 

74 


The  so-called  Medical  and  Law  Schools  serve  to  support 
a  few  people  and  to  announce  to  the  world  that  such  institu- 
tions exist.  There  are  brilliant  lawyers  and  physicians  in 
Port-au-Prince  but  they  have  taken  their  courses  in  Paris. 

In  fact,  the  brilliancy  of  the  cultured  classes  is  most  re- 
markable, equalling  such  circles  in  European  capitals.  Some 
of  the  most  intellectual  of  foreign  ministers  sent  to  Washington 
have  been  Haitians.  One  seldom  meets  finer  gentlemen  than 
the  Minister  of  Education  and  some  other  present  government 
officials  that  I  met  in  Port-au-Prince. 

The  Mechanical  High  School,  while  it  has  very  little  equip- 
ment, is  doing  some  good,  especially  since  some  of  the  Amer- 
ican engineers  from  the  Navy  have  been  lending  their  assist- 
ance as  professors. 

The  small  commercial  school  referred  to  is  conducted  by 
a  Jamaican  and  its  courses  are  simple  and  limited.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  point  out  what  great  need  there  is  for  the  develop- 
ment of  schools  along  every  line  especially  commercial  and 
vocational.  The  average  wage  is  very  low,  but  there  is  a  large 
demand  for  skilled  people.  Ordinarily  typists  would  get  about 
fifteen  dollars  a  month,  yet  a  competent  stenographer  could 
command  practically  the  same  salary  as  in  New  York. 

It  seems  strange  that  in  making  the  convention  with  Haiti 
nothing  was  included  about  education.  The  United  States 
has  authority  to  appoint  officials  who  are  to  superintend  the 
development  of  roads  and  other  improvements,  sanitation, 
the  post  office  system  and  other  departments,  but  nothing 
whatever  is  said  in  the  convention  concerning  education. 
Some  two  years  ago  the  general  in  command  asked  the  author- 
ities in  Washington  to  send  an  American  to  Haiti  as  super- 
intendent of  public  instruction.  A  superintendent  of  coun- 
ty schools  in  Louisiana,  who  spoke  splendid  French,  was  ap- 
pointed. When  he  arrived  in  Port-au-Prince  he  found  j 
difficulty  in  having  himself  recognized  and  while  he  has  been 
working  hard  for  the  last  two  years  he  is  greatly  handicapped 
because  of  his  lack  of  authority.  He  can  make  any  sue 
tions  to  the  Minister  of  Education  concerning  changes  in  an 
individual  school  or  in  the  whole  system  but  he  has  no  author- 
ity to  see  that  these  suggestions  are  carried  out.  His  splendid 
report,  submitted  to  the  Minister  of  Education  for  the  last 
year,  reviews  the  work  accomplished  and  points  out  the  ni 
sity  of  a  reform  program  along  the  following  lin 

First,  construction  of  school  buildings;  second,  the  forma- 
tion of  a  better  corps  of  teachers  ;  third,  the  radical  transforma- 
tion of  the  system  of  inspection;  fourth,  the  Fevision  of  the 

75 


program  of  study  and  the  preparation  of  a  pedagogical  guide 
for  the  teachers.  The  latter  he  has  already  carried  out  him- 
self and  now  the  teachers  have  a  very  full  and  specific  direc- 
tion, not  only  as  to  what  they  are  to  teach,  but  how  they  are 
to  teach  it.  In  the  matter  of  school  building  he  has  suggested 
certain  standard  plans  along  the  lines  of  those  developed  at 
the  Philippines  or  in  Porto  Rico.  For  the  development  of  a 
better  class  of  teachers  he  stresses  the  necessity  of  a  raise  in 
salary.  The  teachers  in  the  country  districts  of  Haiti  get  an 
average  salary  of  $4  a  month.  There  is  spent  altogether  for 
country  schools  in  this  country,  where  the  population  of  two 
million  and  a  half  is  almost  entirely  rural,  the  sum  of  3,000 
dollars  a  month,  for  salaries  of  rural  teachers.  Salaries  for 
all  of  the  teachers  in  Haiti  amount  to  $9,197  per  month.  The 
teaching  forces  are  to  be  improved  also  by  the  provision  of 
circulating  libraries  and  by  the  organization  of  teachers'  insti- 
tutes and  normal  schools. 

In  a  country  where  education  is  so  backward  and  teachers 
are  so  poorly  prepared,  school  inspection  is  one  of  the  most 
important  things.  The  Superintendent  of  Education  has  ask- 
ed for  the  appointment  of  26  North-American  inspectors  who 
shall  be  paid  at  the  rate  of  $1800  to  $2400  a  year.  He  believes 
that  if  he  can  secure  the  appointment  of  these,  that  the  whole 
system  can  be  checked  up  and  gradually  improved ;  other- 
wise, it  seems  to  him  quite  hopeless. 

The  whole  annual  budget  for  education  in  Haiti  was  last 
year  $340,000.  Cuba,  with  the  same  number  of  people  spent 
$7,000,000;  Porto  Rico  with  half  the  number  about  $4,000,000 
and  even  Santo  Domingo  its  next  door  neighbor,  with  a  third 
of  the  population,  will  spend  this  year,  under  the  American 
Colonel  of  the  Marines  who  directs  her  education,  $1,500,000. 
This  story  would  not  be  nearly  so  bad  if  this  $340,000  were 
spent  in  the  right  way.  A  large  part  of  it  heretofore  has  been 
wasted  on  the  political  army.  Many  of  the  teachers  who  have 
been  appointed  in  the  smaller  towns  never  go  to  the  school 
and  indeed  often  there  is  not  even  a  school  house.  The  Captain 
of  the  Gendarmerie  told  me  of  a  woman  coming  in  to  draw 
her  pay  as  school  marm.  When  he  gave  her  the  receipt,  she 
signed  by  a  cross.  He  asked  her  to  write  her  name.  She  said 
she  did  not  know  how  to  write.  When  reproached  for  this  she 
said  that  she  was  the  teacher  of  reading  not  of  writing.  The 
American  Superintendent  found  in  Port-au-Prince  that  many 
of  the  schools  had  directors  who  were  getting  large  salaries 
and  large  rent  allowances.  They  had  a  young  girl  as  teacher, 
who  was  put  off  in  a  dark  room  of  the  director's  residence 

76 


where  the  school  was  conducted,  the  only  responsibility  of  the 
director  being  to  supply  the  room  and  draw  the  salary.  Some- 
times there  were  two  such  schools  in  the  same  block.  In  the 
first  three  months  of  the  American  Superintendent's  adminis- 
tration he  suppressed  66  of  these  schools  and  the  position  of 
director  has  been  done  away  with  entirely.  Every  teacher  is 
required  to  be  responsible  for  35  pupils.  Outside  of  the  prin- 
cipal cities,  Port-au-Prince,  Cap  Haitien,  Gonaives,  St.  Marc, 
Jacmel,  and  Aux  Cayes,  Mr.  Bourgeois  estimates  that  there 
is  about  only  one  fifth  of  one  per  cent  of  the  population  who 
are  literate.  He  says  that  the  children  in  the  schools  are 
taught  entirely  by  the  memory  method.  While  they  learn  to 
read  in  school,  returning  home  to  a  complete  dearth  of  liter- 
ature, they  very  soon  forget. 

Educational  leaders  claim  that  great  difficulty  is  found  in 
securing  funds  for  any  kind  of  reform  in  the  school.  The 
authorities  seem  to  approve  appropriations  for  roads,  sanita- 
tion or  material  improvement  much  more  quickly  than  they 
will  for  education. 

The  one  hospital  in  Port-au-Prince  is  called  "The  Central 
Hospital"  and  had,  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  330  patients. 
Some  of  them  were  still  sleeping  on  the  floor,  but  the  author- 
ities were  rejoicing  in  the  fact  that  they  had  just  received 
a  number  of  new  beds  from  the  United  States.  The  hos- 
pital is  in  charge  of  physicians  and  nurses  allocated,  as  it 
were,  by  the  United  States  Government  to  this  special  service. 
Besides  the  regular  patients  they  have  from  25  to  100  in  at- 
tendance at  the  free  clinic.  Syphilis  is  the  most  common  dis- 
ease and  a  visit  to  the  ward  where  the  worst  cases  are  con- 
fined is  as  horrible  an  experience  as  one  could  imagine.  Most 
of  the  deformities  seen  on  the  street  are  said  by  physicians  to 
be  a  result  of  venereal  diseases,  and  I  heard  no  estimate  of  the 
population  having  these  diseases  below  eighty-five  per  cent, 
some  physicians  claiming  that  there  were  few  people  free 
from  them  on  the  island.  Tuberculosis  is  the  next  must  com- 
mon disease.    Malaria  is  also  quite  prevalent. 

A  Nurses'  School,  presided  over  by  American  nurses,  has 
recently  been  established  in  connection  with  the  hospital. 
They  are  doing  what  they  can  to  instill  into  the  Haitian  girls 
the  scientific  care  of  the  sick  and  the  moral  ideals  of  the  pro- 
fession but  they  find  their  work  very  difficult. 

Supplies  for  the  Central  Hospital  are  very  hard  to 
secure.  Sometimes  the  authorities  have  had  to  wait  as  long 
as  six  months  for  them  and  of  course  the  hospitals  in  the  out- 
lying towns  find  still  more  difficulty.     Such  hospitals  are  con- 

77" 


ducted  in  Cap  Haiticn,  St.  Marc,  Gonaives  and  Jacmcl.  Five 
American  physicians,  besides  the  Chief  of  Sanitation  of  Haiti 
are  assigned  to   sanitary   duties  in    Haiti. 

The  nurses  so  far  have  largely  been  Sisters  of  Charity. 
The  Mother  Superior  of  the  hospital  was  called  upon  not  long 
ago  in  regard  to  the  action  of  one  of  the  sisters,  who  took  a 
Bible  away  from  a  patient  and  burned  it.  She  seemed  a  little 
excited  in  having  to  appear  before  the  American  officers  to 
answer  such  a  charge,  but  she  assured  them  that  the  sister 
only  burnt  the  Bible  because  she  believed  she  was  doing  the 
will  of  God. 

The  physician  in  charge  of  the  Central  Hospital  said  that 
one  of  the  troubles  with  the  people  of  Haiti  was  that  they 
did  not  get  enough  to  eat.  He  thought  it  was  not  at  all  true 
that  the  people  in  a  tropical  country  of  that  kind  were  able 
to  secure  sufficient  nourishment  simply  by  depending  on  the 
plentiful  fruit  found  everywhere.  "Most  of  these  people 
haven't  had  a  full  stomach  since  their  birth.  I  know  of  no 
country  where  the  need  of  the  people  for  economic  assistance 
and  medical  treatment  is  so  great.  There  are  all  kinds  of 
diseased  and  needy  people.  Four  hundred  lepers  wander 
around  the  streets  or  are  driven  out  into  the  country  roads 
where  they  beg  in  a  pitiful  way,  as  they  did  in  old  Bible  days. 
Some  come  to  the  hospital,  but  we  cannot  keep  them  here. 

There  is  a  proposal  to  establish  a  leper  colony  on  a  near-by 
island.  The  initial  cost  of  this  would  be  one  hundred  thous- 
and dollars  and  we  have  no  way  of  getting  this  money.  We 
find  a  good  deal  of  difficulty  in  enforcing  sanitary  regulations 
in  the  cities,  such  as  rules  for  having  no  standing  water,  keep- 
ing no  animals  within  the  city  limits,  cleaning  out-houses  and 
stopping  the  waste  of  water.  The  Haitian  has  no  idea  of 
stopping  the  water  in  the  pipes  from  running.  If  we  had  ten 
times  the  supply  that  the  city  now  has  we  would  be  short  of 
water  because  nearly  every  hydrant  in  the  city  is  leaking  and 
people  pay  no  attention  to  shutting  them  off."  The  annual 
appropriation  for  the  entire  Republic  for  sanitation  is  $76,000. 


78 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  PEOPLE 

IT  is  impossible  to  find  out  just  how  far  the  Voodoo  wor- 
ship still  exists.     No  white  man  has  ever  been  allowed  to 

witness  the  Voodoo  ceremonies  and  since  the  Americans 
entered  the  country  they  have  done  all  in  their  power  to  pro- 
hibit it  entirely.  The  Gendarmes  will  tell  you  however  that 
it  still  exists  in  spite  of  their  vigilance.  The  ceremony  i< 
presided  over  by  a  native  priest  or  what  would  be  called  in 
Africa  a  "witch  doctor."  A  ceremony  very  much  like  the  Mass 
is  used  at  the  beginning.  Afterward  the  child  which  is  to  be 
sacrificed,  is  brought  in  and  at  a  certain  stage  it  is  killed,  it- 
heart  being  taken  out  and  the  participants  drinking  of  its  blood. 
The  more  recent  form  of  the  ceremony  substitutes  a  goat  for 
a  child.  Some  times  the  child  is  used  up  till  the  critical  time 
for  it  to  be  sacrificed  and  then  the  goat  is  substituted.  It  is 
said  that  the  result  of  Voodoo  worship  is  plainly  registered 
on  the  faces  of  those  who  participate  in  it,  making  them  look 
like  devils. 

It  is  not  hard  to  believe  anything  that  one  is  told  about 
the  degredation  of  the  country  people.  They  are  unmoral 
rather  than  immoral  as  they  seem  to  have  no  conception  of 
any  high  standards  of  life.  An  American  friend  had  a  boy 
and  a  girl  working  for  him,  brother  and  sister  by  the  same 
mother  but  having  different  fathers.  The  father  of  one  of 
them  had  twenty-five  children.  Such  instances  are  not  un- 
common. 

When  the  American  military  force  came  into  Haiti  there 
was  one  plow  in  the  republic  which  is  now  exhibited  proudly 
in  Cap  Haitien.  On  all  of  the  coast  of  Haiti  there  arc  only 
two  lighthouses. 

The  people  that  we  met  on  the  road  seemed  to  be  very 
much  frightened  at  our  automobile,  probably  not  because  they 
had  not  seen  these  machines  before  but  because  the  drivers 
are  often  so  careless  of  the  people's  safety  that  they  run  them 
down  without  any  excuse.  We  found  them  greatly  ex<  | 
as  our  machine  approached.  It  was  most  amusing  to  see  two 
or  three  of  them  get  at  the  head  and  tail  of  a  donkey  to  push 

79 


and  pull  him  on  to  the  side  of  the  road  in  order  to  let  us  pass. 
They  seemed  to  be  profoundly  grateful  to  us  when  we  stopped 
and  gave  them  a  chance  to  get  their  animals  out  of  the  way. 

The  American  Director  of  the  Postal  Service  gave  me  some 
interesting  information  about  the  development  of  his  depart- 
ment. He  dropped  over  fifty  per  cent  of  the  employees  the 
first  few  months  he  took  charge.  He  found  that  many  of  the 
postmasters  were  not  able  to  read  and  write.  They  would  let 
the  few  literate  of  the  community  come  in  and  look  over  the 
mail  and  take  what  they  desired.  Oftentimes  they  were  re- 
ceiving considerable  sums  for  the  delivery  of  mail  to  the  houses 
in  these  small  towns.  The  method  used  was  to  employ  a  boy 
of  10  or  12  years  of  age,  who  himself  generally  was  unable 
to  read,  and  arrange  the  letters  in  order  between  his  fingers 
and  let  him  go  from  house  to  house  to  deliver  them.  About 
three  times  as  many  employees  were  used  in  the  offices  as 
were  needed.  In  Port-au-Prince  the  force  has  been  reduced 
from  30  to  15,  and  in  other  places  in  proportion. 

The  mail  was  being  sent,  for  instance,  from  Port-au-Prince 
to  St.  Marc  once  a  week  and  then  by  courier,  instead  of  using 
the  railroad  (one  of  the  tw^o  on  the  island).  The  train  left 
Saturday  afternoon,  and  made  the  trip  of  66  miles  in  about 
four  hours.  The  courier  left  Saturday  night  and  would  get 
there  the  next  day.  When  the  American  proposed  to  send 
the  mail  by  train  the  postmaster  told  him  that  the  people  would 
not  stand  for  it.  When  this  opposition  was  overcome,  then  he 
was  told  that  the  railroad  would  not  carry  it.  He  found  that 
the  railroad  was  bound  by  its  contract  to  carry  all  mail  free 
but  the  difficulty  was  that  the  postmaster  was  getting  150 
gourdes  a  month  for  the  courier,  and  it  only  cost  him  30  per 
month  for  the  work.  The  more  than  2,000,000  inhabitants 
of  Haiti  mail  about  a  million  letters  and  postcards  during  the 
whole  year.  That  is  less  than  the  number  dropped  in  the 
mail  boxes  in  New  York  City  any  business  day  between  5 
and  7  in  the  afternoon. 

Practically  the  only  uplifting  moral  and  spiritual  in- 
fluences of  the  community  are  the  masses  held  in  the 
Catholic  churches  and  the  preaching  service  in  the  Pro- 
testant churches.  The  glamor,  the  glitter  of  the  tinsel,  the 
adoration  of  the  saints,  or  the  congregational  singing  of  the 
Protestants,  appeal  alike  to  the  volatile  and  superstitious  popu- 
lation. The  churches  seem  to  be  well  filled,  but  religion  and 
morality  have  little  relationship.  I  was  in  the  city  on  Corpus 
Christi  day.  The  President  of  the  Republic  and  the  diplomatic 
corps,  including  the  representative  from  the  American  military 

80 


force,  attended  mass  in  the  Cathedral.  A  procession  preceded 
the  event.  The  Priests,  the  nuns,  the  children  of  the  Catholic 
schools  and  the  members  of  the  various  orders  formed  a  long 
line  of  march.  An  effigy  of  the  body  of  Christ  was  taken 
around  the  streets,  and  at  various  different  corners,  different 
ceremonies  were  held  in  the  open.  The  President  was  accom- 
panied by  his  special  military  aid  appointed  from  the  Marine 
Corps  and  escorted  by  a  large  number  of  cavalry  and  members 
of  the  gendarmerie.  When  the  priest,  who  was  in  control  of 
the  procession,  saw  that  I  was  taking  some  pictures,  he  kindly 
had  the  whole  procession  stop  and  told  me  that  he  would 
arrange  them  in  any  way  that  I  directed  in  order  that  I  might 
have  a  good  picture. 

The  large  Cathedral,  which  is  a  very  beautiful  building,  was 
crowded  to  the  doors  during  the  mass.  Around  me  were  kneel- 
ing several  poor  African  women  who  evidently  were  just  as 
superstitious  and  ignorant  in  their  worship  of  the  cross  and 
the  candle  which  they  held  in  their  hands,  as  they  could  have 
been  adoring  fetiches  in  the  forests  of  Africa.  It  was  evident 
that  little  more  than  the  name  of  their  deity  had  been  changed 
and  that  they  were  just  about  one  stage  from  Voodooism. 

All  of  the  priests  of  Haiti  are  Frenchmen  who  have  been 
educated  in  a  seminary  in  France,  which  is  sustained  by  the 
Haitian  government.  They  are  undoubtedly  of  much  higher 
character  than  the  priests  in  most  of  the  other  Latin  American 
countries.  I  heard  no  stories  of  their  abuses,  such  as  are  com- 
mon regarding  the  priests  in  Santo  Domingo.  My  visit  to 
the  St.  Louis  School,  conducted  by  the  brothers,  made  me  feel 
that  those  men  were  doing  a  real  piece  of  service,  giving  their 
lives  in  an  unselfish  way  and  living  under  conditions  which 
were  so  repulsive  to  men  of  sentiment  and  culture  that  only 
a  deeply  religious  motive  would  bring  them  to  submit  to  it. 

When  asked  about  the  bringing  of  native  Haitians  into 
their  order  they  explained  that  they  had  tried  the  experiment 
but  that  it  had  been  almost  universally  unsatisfactory.  They 
now  had  only  two  native  men  in  the  brotherhood.  The  Haitians 
have  never  proven  their  ability  to  maintain  the  standards  of 
morality  required.  When  they  are  sent  to  France  they  will 
live  there  as  Frenchmen  and  maintain  a  high  standard  of  char- 
acter but  as  soon  as  they  return  to  their  native  haunts  they 
recede  to  the  old  life.  When  I  asked  the  brothers  for  their 
opinion  of  our  appointing  negroes  of  the  United  States  to 
positions  in  the  schools  we  propose  to  open  in  Haiti  they  were 
very  decided  in  their  conviction  that  white  men  should  always 

SI 


he  kept  as  directors  of  the  schools.  The  Archbishop  of  Santo 
Domingo  gave  me  the  same  advice. 

The  national  budget  provides  for  a  total  of  $65,736,  to  be 
expended  by  the  Minister  of  Religion ;  of  that  about  $1680  goes 
to  a  subvention  for  Protestant  worship;  about  $360  goes  to 
the  Society  for  the  distribution  of  Bibles  and  religious  books 
and  $500  gold  a  month,  goes  to  the  maintenance  of  the  semi- 
nary for  priests  in  France. 

One  authority  says  concerning  religious  conditions : 

"Nominally  these  people  are  Roman  Catholic  which  is  the 
state  religion.  About  one  third  of  all  the  people  attend  church, 
more  or  less.  Another  third  attend  once  a  year.  The  re- 
mainder never  enter  a  church  door.  The  intellectuals  have 
completely  broken  with  the  'church'  and  are  openly  atheistic 
and  agnostic. 

"Beneath  this  veneer  of  Catholicism  lies  a  deep  and  dark 
strain  of  primitive  vodouism  which  occasionally  comes  to  the 
surface  in  furtive  efforts  to  maintain  the  old  superstitions. 

"Underfed,  untaught,  oppressed  and  degraded  by  a  super- 
stition the  Haytian  has  never  had  a  chance.  If  he  is  to  cease 
to  be  a  beggar  at  the  door  of  the  western  world,  he  must  be 
given  an  interpretation  of  Christianity  of  a  different  char- 
acter. In  the  city  of  Port-au-Prince  stands  a  cathedral  costing 
$400,000,  built  by  government  taxes  of  the  necessities  of  the 
poor  people.  All  about  the  church  door  congregate  the  most 
wretched  beggars  of  the  tropics,  and  in  front  of  the  great 
temple  sprawls  the  open  air  market  with  five  thousand  of  the 
wretched,  hungry,  filthy  creatures  who  barter  and  haggle  over 
a  day  'business'  representing  thirteen  cents.  Most  of  the 
churches  on  the  island  have  been  built  by  government  ap- 
propriations, heavy  percentages  of  which  were  paid  over  to 
the  legislators  who  voted  for  the  subsidies." 

An  American  merchant  on  the  Island,  who  has  also  spent 
some  time  in  Africa,  kindly  prepared  an  extensive  memorandum 
for  me,  from  which  I  quote  without  necessarily  endorsing  all 
his  positions. 

"There  is  a  striking  similarity  (with  differences)  in  the  problem 
which  is  facing  the  perhaps  fourteen  million  negroes  of  the  United 
States  and  the  two  million  of  Haiti.  One  great  difference  is  that  in 
Haiti  the  negroes  made  themselves  citizens  of  their  own  republic, 
under  rulers  of  their  own  color,  while  in  the  United  States  they  were 
presented,  unasked,  with  citizenship  in  a  republic  of  the  white  race. 

"The  negroes  of  both  Republics  were  slaves  for  many  years,  losing 
their  own  native  religion,  language,  and  customs,  the  Haitians  acquir- 
ing a  new  patois  (Creole)  of  limited  capacity,  and  unsuitable  for 
written  records.  Those  who  have  only  this  patois  (and  these  con- 
stitute the  great  majority  of  the  people — the  peasants  and  laborers) 

82 


can  take  little  or  no  part — no  intelligent  part  in  a  government,  even 
though  called  a  Republic,  whose  official  language  is  French,  which 
they  can  neither  understand,  if  spoken,  nor  read. 

"These  negroes  of  the  two  republics  were  taken  by  force  from 
Africa  to  a  strange  country,  given  a  new  language,  a  new  form  of 
government  and  new  laws.  They  were  compelled  to  labor  instead  of 
living  their  customary  life  of  ease  and  comfort.  They  are  now  facing 
a  problem  for  which  their  heredity  has  in  no  wise  prepared  them  and 
it  is  only  by  environment  that  they  may  hope  to  win  their  way  to  a 
higher    place. 

"White  Americans  or  Europeans  who  have  lived  here  longest, 
even  ten  years,  although  having  come  with  the  expectation  that  the 
negro  race  would  be  able  to  develop  into  a  self-governing,  civilized 
community,  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  negro,  up  to  the 
present,  has  not  shown  sufficient  capacity  for  leadership  to  make  this 
possible.  The  conclusion  is  that  he  needs  to  be  led.  Many  have 
sufficient  intelligence  to  do  excellent  work  under  efficient  leaders 
who  will  wisely  and  without  causing  too  much  friction,  direct  their 
efforts  into  the  proper  channels  and  then  see  that  they  keep  to  those 
channels. 

"This  is  evident  in  Haiti  in  military  as  well  as  in  civil  life. 
Gendarmes  under  a  white  officer  do  good  work.  Without  a  white  man 
in  charge,  they  are  almost  useless  for  tasks  which  require  courage 
or  initiative.  They  simply  have  not  reached  that  stage  of  develop- 
ment where  they  can  stand  alone  or  do  a  new  thing.  This  is  true 
in  business  and  in  religious  work.  In  many  cases,  some  Haitian  with 
much  white  blood  in  him  would  make  a  good  leader  if  the  common 
people  would  trust  him  and  have  faith  in  him — but  it  is  the  white 
man  whom  they  trust  and  follow  and  believe  in,  although  they  often 
refuse    to    admit    it. 

"Now,  there  are  perhaps  two  main  reasons  why  the  white  man — 
the  American — should  do  something  to  solve  the  negro  problem. 
The  one  is  the  altruistic  reason  of  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the 
negro  race.  The  other  pertains  to  our  own  safety  and  comfort  in 
life. 

"This  problem  of  how  best  to  produce  the  increasing  volume  of 
tropical  products  which  civilization  requires  and  demands  is  inti- 
mately bound  up  with  the  colored  population  of  the  tropics. 

"These  colored  and  backward  peoples  who  dwell  in  the  warmer 
parts  of  the  earth  furnish  practically  all  of  the  labor  for  producing 
sugar,  coffee,  cocoa,  rubber,  cocoanuts,  cotton,  and  many  cabinet  and 
dye  woods.  Civilization  as  represented  by  the  white  races  requires 
every  year  a  greatly  increased  volume  of  these  products,  and  the  dark- 
skinned  man — in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  has  no  desire  to  do  so — 
is  called  upon  to  furnish  a  correspondingly  increased  supply  of  labor. 

"Haiti  produces  or  can  produce  great  quantities  of  all  these 
products  so  urgently  wanted  by  civilization,  but  the  vast  majority  of 
her  people  are  of  pure  or  of  nearly  pure  negro  blood  and  have  little 
or  no  desire  to  live  otherwise  than  as  they  have  lived  for  ages. 

"There  is  a  smaller  class  of  those  who  have  inherited  more  or 
less  white  blood  and  who  have  consequently  more  or  less  of  the 
white  man's  characteristics.  These  people,  even  more  than  the  pure 
whites,  desire  to  exploit  and  to  live  off  the  labor  of  the  peasantry. 
They  desire  to  be,  and  are,  the  employers  of  labor,  managers,  and 
business  men.  They  expect  to  be  the  rulers  of  the  country  and  to 
manage  its  finances  to  their  own  satisfaction. 

83 


"There  is  consequent  enmity  between  these  two  classes  and  there 
is  no  greater  race  prejudice  between  the  white  and  black  races  than 
there  is  between  the  colored  and  black  people  of  Haiti. 

"Yet,  it  seems  to  be  the  case  that  it  is  among  this  higher  class  of 
Haitians  that  there  is  a  promising  field  for  the  training  of  children 
who  will  do  the  work  of  the  future.  In  contrast  with  the  peasantry, 
these  high-class  Haitians  are  a  fine  lot  of  people.  They  dress  well, 
often  paying  too  much  attention  to  dress.  They  have  good  houses 
and  some  are  very  wealthy.  They  live  well  and  are  well  educated, 
and  are  often  clever  and  intelligent.  Many  of  them  are  light-colored, 
especially  in  some  towns,  many  being  no  darker  than  most  Spanish 
or  other   Mediterranean  people. 

"The  most  of  these  light-colored  people  are  of  French  descent 
with,  later,  some  German  blood  mixed  in,  and  there  is  now  growing 
up  another  lot  of  children  of  American  blood,  the  off-spring,  mostly, 
of  the  Marines.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  a  woman  to  show  to  her 
friends,  proudly,  the  very  light-colored  child  of  her  daughter — proud 
of  it  because  it  is  comparatively  white,  even  though  illegitimate. 

"These  half-blood  American  children  now  growing  up,  or  others 
of  similar  class,  who  may  very  likely  inherit  considerable  ability,  will, 
naturally,  as  they  mature,  become  leaders,  either  for  good  or  ill, 
among  these  people,  depending  largely  on  the  training  they  receive. 
They  are  nearly  all  in  the  towns  and  can  be  reached  by  a  few  good 
training  schools  in  the  centers  of  population.  They  should  be  taught 
English  as  well  as  French  and  should  have  a  business  and  industrial 
training  to  fit  them  for  the  place  they  will  occupy  in  the  future. 

"Even  now,  English-speaking  youth  have  preference  when  situa- 
tions are  open  in  business  houses,  and  this  tendency  is  bound  to 
increase.  If  there  can  be  a  body  of  young  people,  growing  up,  trained 
not  alone  in  Haitian  ways  but  having  an  international  feeling,  and  if 
they  can  be  trained  to  become,  many  of  them,  teachers  and  leaders 
of  the  peasantry,  instead  of,  as  most  of  this  class  at  the  present  time, 
having  no  other  interest  in  the  lower  class  than  to  exploit  them, 
there   should  be   light  ahead. 

"It  will  be  in  the  new  generations  of  this  class  of  mixed  blood  that 
good  work  for  the  future  of  the  country  can  be  done  rather  than 
among  the  older  people  who  are,  in  many  cases,  dissatisfied  and  will 
remain    so    always. 

"There  are  abuses  of  military  authority,  perhaps  most  often  by 
the  native  police  (gendarmes)  which  it  seems  impossible  to  ade- 
quately correct  or  to  prevent  with  only  a  military  government  on 
the  island.  These  abuses  of  authority  working  hardship  on  some 
native  and  making  a  life-long  enemy,  perhaps  a  bandit,  of  him,  again 
create  more  friction,  the  need  to  use  more  military  force  and  the 
resulting  consequence  of  more  abuses  or  supposed  abuses.  Not  until 
there  is  here  some  civil  authority,  supported  of  course,  by  the  military, 
something  similar  to  what  was  successful  in  the  Philippines,  can  we 
hope  for  peace  in  Haiti,  or  that  the  people  will  understand  what  we 
wish  to  do  and  will  become  contented. 

"Among  Haitians  there  has  been  little  united  effort  for  any  length 
of  time.  Somebody  thinks  he  is  being  'done'  or  sees  a  chance  to  'do' 
someone  else,  and  any  contract,  personal  or  civic,  goes  by  the  board. 
This  inability  in  the  upper  classes  to  get  together  and  to  continue 
working  in  harmony,  together  with  the  desire  of  this  class  to  benefit 
by  the  low  estate  of  the  peasants  promises  very  little  advance  for 
Haiti  as  a  country,  by  the  efforts  of  its  own  people. 

84 


"These  peasant  people  of  Haiti  are  not  lazy  or  idle,  but  they  are 
a  poor,  poor  people,  who  would,  however,  with  proper  training,  pro 
duce  much  larger  quantities  of  the  products  which  the  island  will 
grow  and  which  the  world  desires,  without  exerting  themselves  un- 
duly and  without  being  unjustly  exploited.  They  simply  need  to 
have  implanted  in  them  the  desire  for  some  of  the  primary  and  all 
important  things  which  make  for  civilization,  and  to  be  taught  how 
most  easily  to  secure  these  things.  It  is  largely  the  enjoyment  of 
luxuries  which  differentiates  the  civilized   man  from  the   savage. 

"What  can  be  expected  of  peasant  people  such  as  these,  who  are 
quite  content  to  live  in  their  filthy  surroundings — huts  (as  in  Africa) 
made  of  sticks  and  twigs  and  plastered  with  mud  and  with  a  mud 
floor — a  floor  simply  of  earth  and  not  of  a  compound  mixture  which 
hardens,  such  as  many  Africans  use — a  floor  that  in  dry  weather  may 
not  be  utterly  objectionable  but  that  in  wet  weather,  by  reason  of 
poor  drainage  and  leaky  thatch  roofs,  becomes  muddy  and  with  pools 
of  water  on  it  through  which  pigs  and  chickens  and  dogs,  as  well  as 
human  beings,  splash  as  they  move  about.  There  are  many  places  in 
Africa  where  the  door-sill  is  raised  a  foot  or  more  above  the  floor 
level  in  order  to  keep  out  the  pigs  and  to  keep  the  babies  in,  but  that 
is  not  common  here,  and  babies  are  often  little,  if  any,  cleaner  than 
the  pigs,  especially  if  the  babies  have  been  burdened  with  some  sort 
of  clothing — if  the  clothing  becomes  too  wet  or  dirty  the  babies  are 
often  allowed  to  play  comfortably  without  any — but  as  a  rule  these 
people  are  obsessed  with  the  idea  of  clothing,  which  is  one  of  the 
obvious  results  of  contact  with  civilization.  They  wear  clothing,  dirty 
clothing,  without  adequate  knowledge  of  its  necessity  or  use  and 
care.  Those  who  have  seen  both,  know  that  these  peasant  people 
are  more  unclean  and  filthy,  fuller  of  vice  and  disease,  less  amenable 
to  rule  and  discipline  than  their  African  progenitors. 

"Assuredly,  there  should  be  a  system  of  universal  primary  schools 
as  these  people  can  learn  the  primary  things  and  an  occasional  indi- 
vidual is  able  to  go  much  higher.  English  is  without  doubt  the  future 
language  of  the  island  and  there  should  be  a  primary  education  and 
civilization  in  English.  In  every  community  there  should  be  a  school 
with  other  than  Haitian  teachers — preferably  a  husband  and  wife — 
where  primary  subjects  would  be  taught  in  English;  where  board  or 
cement  floors  in  houses  would  be  in  use;  where  cleanliness  and  the 
proper  wearing  of  clothes  might  be  taught  and  required;  in  short. 
where  all  the  primary  and  elementary  things  of  civilization  might  he 
taught  and  impressed  on  the  people  by  precept  and  example;  where 
they  could  come  into  actual  contact  with  these  things,  which  would 
gradually  become  the  things  they  want  and  which  would  he  required 
of  them,  perhaps  by  custom;  if  not  by  custom,  then  by  law. 

"The  soil  is  rich;  the  climate  is  good;  the  country  is  thickly 
populated  and  could  furnish  much  willing  labor  if  properly  trained 
and  not  unjustly  exploited,  and  it  is  very  mar  to  the  United  St   • 

"We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  full  of  ideals,  have  taken 
hold  here,  and  if  we  are  to  make  a  success  of  our  undertaking  we 
ought  to  give  ourselves  the  best  possible  chance  to  do  our  work  well, 

"At  least,  we  can  bring  about  peaceful  conditions  and  a  greater 
production  of  the  things  the  world  needs.  It  is  a  problem  which 
many  young  Americans  would  find  interesting  and  to  which  they 
could  devote  their  best  energies  with  a  fair  expectation  of  accom- 
plishing much  good  and  of  civilizing  what  is  now  a  very  dark  spot 
on  the  horizon  of  the  United  States." 

85 


CHAPTER  VII 
MISSIONS  IN  HAITI 

NATURALLY,  Port-au-Prince  has  more  Protestant  work 
than  any  other  city.  There  are  three  churches  here. 
The  three  denominations  having  work  in  different  parts 
of  the  republic,  the  Episcopalians,  the  Baptists  and  the 
Wesleyan  Methodists,  are  all  located  here.  There  is  also  an 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  church  in  the  capital,  but  they 
have  no  work  outside. 

Bishop  C.  B.  Colmore,  who  recently  took  charge  of  the 
Episcopal  work  in  Haiti,  says,  concerning  the  appeal  of  that 
country : 

"Here  is  a  magnificent  opportunity  for  the  Church  to  interpret  to 
these  people  the  true  spirit  of  democracy;  to  show  them  that  a  nation 
can  go  to  the  assistance  of  another  without  hope  of  selfish  gain;  that 
Christianity  is  broader  and  nobler  than  selfishness,  and  that  brotherly 
service  can  be  international.  The  lesson  is  sure  to  have  its  influence 
on  the  people  themselves  if  the  Church  is  faithful  in  presenting  it. 
For  the  difficulty  lies  just  in  the  path  in  which  the  Church  can  be 
of  service.  We  have  said  that  to  other  nations  Haiti's  failure  has  been 
a  financial  one,  but  the  real  trouble  deep  down  under  the  foundations 
is  a  moral  and  spiritual  one.  All  other  failures  of  any  people  can  be 
traced  to  this  in  the  end.  Here  we  find  the  Church's  opportunity  in 
Haiti. 

"James  Theodore  Holly  left  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  in  1861,  and 
took  a  considerable  colony  of  colored  people  with  him,  establishing 
the  Church  in  Haiti.  His  work  was  successful  and  a  good  following 
was  built  up  among  the  people.  He  became  the  first  bishop  in  1874, 
which  office  he  occupied  until  his  death  in  1911.  Bishop  Holly's  own 
work  was  in  the  city  of  Port-au-Prince,  where  at  different  times 
two  large  and  handsome  church  buildings  were  constructed,  both 
of  which  were  destroyed  by  fire.  Holy  Trinity  Church  is  at  the 
present  time  using  a  temporary  structure.  Recently  a  large  piece  of 
property  has  been  purchased  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  which  is  large 
enough  for  the  church,  a  school  building,  parish  house  and  rector  all 
together.  It  is  a  splendid  property,  and  we  expect  to  rebuild  the 
church. 

"Under  Bishop  Holly's  direction  work  was  carried  on  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  of  which  there  remains  today  work  in  five  sec- 
tions of  the  republic.  Of  these,  the  most  interesting  to  me  is  that 
section  in  the  mountains  of  Leogane,  part  of  the  peninsula  on  the 
south  which  runs  out  westward  toward  Cuba.  Under  the  direct 
ministrations  of  the  Reverend  Alexandre  Battiste  and  his  predecessor, 
the  Reverend  J.  J.  Constant,  a  large  body  of  Church  people  has  been 

86 


built  up.  For  upward  of  thirty  years,  Mr.  Battiste  has  been  faith- 
fully caring  for  them  and  has  their  utmost  confidence  and  love.  Here 
"voodooism,"  which  is  more  or  less  prevalent  throughout  the  country, 
has  its  strongholds.  This  spirit-worship,  so  powerful  in  its  influence 
over  the  people,  is  a  great  system  of  graft  in  the  hands  of  the  high 
priests,  who  play  upon  the  credulity  and  the  superstition  of  their 
followers.  Many  and  wonderful  are  the  tales  of  human  sacrifice, 
raisings  from  the  dead,  cannibalism,  etc.,  practised  by  these  people, 
and  while  there  may  be  some  room  for  dispute,  I  do  not  think  there 
is  any  truth  in  these  extreme  reports  nowadays.  However,  the  whole 
system  is  a  baneful  one  and  should  be  eradicated  from  the  lives  of 
the  people.  It  is  lowering  and  degrading,  holding  them  back  from 
ideals  and  progress  which  will  enable  them  to  live  better  and  freer 
from  the  domination  of  useless  fears  and  terrors.  The  whole  thing 
is  against  the  law  of  the  country,  but  force  will  never  eradicate  it. 
Nothing  but  education  can  free  them  from  fear.  The  love  of  God 
must  replace  in  their  minds  and  hearts  this  senseless  fear  of  the 
"spirit"  and  his  representative,  the  voodoo  high  priest,  who  still  asserts 
his  influence. 

"But  the  future  of  our  work  in  educational  lines  in  Haiti  lies  not 
so  much  in  the  academic  instruction  as  in  the  agricultural  and  in- 
dustrial period.  We  must  not  be  willing  to  build  upon  the  sand  of  the 
present  customs  and  ideals  which  have  failed  in  times  past.  We  must 
go  to  the  very  bottom  of  things  and  build  up  a  solid  basis  and  founda- 
tion upon  everlasting  principles.  We  must  teach  them  the  value  of 
those  things  which  will  make  them  citizens  useful  to  their  country. 
We  should  aim  to  produce  good  artisans,  operatives  and  agricultur- 
alists, men  and  women  who  will  be  able  to  show  by  their  lives  and 
good  examples,  and  by  the  productiveness  of  their  work,  that  Chris- 
tians will  do  their  share  of  the  work  of  the  world." 

Dr.  Arthur  Gray  speaks  along  the  same  as  follows  : 

"In  such  an  environment  our  chiefest  effort  should  be  devoted  to 
the  coming  generation.  One  can  always  fill  a  church  in  those  lands 
if  one  has  an  attractive  service.  But  full  churches  do  not  mean  strong 
churches.  Strength  only  comes  when  the  communicants  have  put 
off  idleness  and  irresponsibility  and  it  is  to  the  eradication  of  those 
typical  characteristics  that  I  think  we  should  address  ourselves.  What 
is  needed  is  that  the  next  generation  of  Church  people  should  be 
industrious  and  ambitious,  owners  of  their  own  homes,  dominated  by 
a  desire  to  make  their  and  their  neighbors'  families  centers  of  patri- 
otism. The  clergy  and  a  few  faithful  parishioners  exhibit  these  traits 
today,  but  there  must  be  many  more  like  them.  As  Mr.  Eduard  Jones 
said  to  me,  mere  education  in  the  three  Rs  does  not  produce  useful 
citizens. 

"All  the  people  with  whom  I  discussed  this  problem,  from  M. 
Dartignave,  the  president,  down,  urged  the  necessity  of  trade-schools, 
and  I  am  confident  that  the  one  thing  required  to  solve  the  problem 
of  the  Port-au-Prince  district  is  the  boarding  trade-school — schools 
of  this  kind  where  boys  and  girls  can  be  trained  from  their  youth  up 
to  love  labor.  The  seed  of  the  Gospel  can  not  take  root  in  people 
who  prefer  idleness  to  industry  or  irresponsibility  to  the  daily  grind 
of  responsibility.  And  I  don't  see  how  the  needed  soil  can  be  secured 
without  plowing  and  harrowing  and  fertilizing  given  in  a  trade- 
school." 

87 


Iii  Port-au-Prince,  the  Episcopalians  have  a  church,  in  the 
rear  of  which  is  a  boys'  school.  They  have  also  a  girls'  school. 
They  recently  bought  a  large  piece  of  ground  in  the  heart  of 
the  city,  on  which  they  expect  to  put  a  good  school  building. 
This  should  certainly  be  done  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 
The  school  now  existing  is  no  worse  than  other  Haitian  schools, 
but  it  certainly  could  not  be  said  to  reflect  credit  upon  those 
who  are  responsible m  for  it.  There  are  two  ministers  in  the 
capital,  an  American  clergyman  who  is  rector  of  the  English- 
speaking  negro  congregation,  and  a  well-known  Haitian, 
educated  in  the  United  States,  who  has  charge  of  the  Haitian 
congregation  and  is  a  noted  orator  in  French.  He  has  been 
connected  with  the  work  for  many  years,  and  his  children, 
now  grown,  are  teachers  in  the  school.  The  next  largest  center 
of  the  Episcopalians  is  in  Aux  Cayes.  Altogether  they  report 
26  churches  served  by  13  clergymen. 

The  Baptists  have  a  small  work  in  Port-au-Prince.  Their 
building  is  small,  old  and  dilapidated.  They  have  one  work- 
er, Rev.  L.  Hyppolite,  who  was  converted  in  Brooklyn  some 
forty  years  ago.  Their  only  other  paid  minister,  Lherisson 
Nossirehl,  resides  at  Jacmel,  which  is  the  center  of  a  remark- 
able work.  There  are  said  to  be  twenty-seven  stations  and 
four  day  schools,  all  of  which  are  self-supporting,  the  preach- 
ing being  done  by  laymen.  The  only  outside  financial  sup- 
port received  by  the  Baptists  in  Haiti  is  one  thousand  dollars 
a  year,  which  the  Jamaican  churches  send,  and  about  $1800  a 
year  contributed  by  the  Llott-Carey  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Negro  Baptist  Church  in  the  United  States. 

Besides  those  in  the  capital  and  Jacmel  there  are  Baptist 
churches  in  Cap  Haitien  with  a  native  pastor  who  studied  at 
Newton  Seminary,  the  congregation  at  Le  Tron  with  an 
ordained  native  pastor,  and  at  Rantique  with  a  deacon  in 
charge,  St.  Rafael  also  in  charge  of  a  deacon,  and  St.  Marc 
with  no  pastor.  Mr.  Hyppolite  claimed  that  the  Baptists  have 
six  thousand  members  in  the  Jacmel  district  and  two  thousand 
in  other  parts  of  Haiti.  As  with  the  claim  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Jones  of  Port-au-Prince  that  the  Episcopalians  had  six  thous- 
and members,  I  was  not  able  to  get  others  to  agree  to  this 
figure. 

The  Baptists'  work  was  first  begun  by  Mr.  Goode  in  the 
early  part  of  the  19th  century.  He  got  into  politics  however 
and  the  work  was  practically  abandoned  until  the  negroes 
from  the  United  States,  who  were  brought  in  as  colonists  by 
President  Boyer,  gave  new  impetus  to  the  work.  The  English 
Baptists,  largely  through  the  work  in  Jamaica,  have  assisted 

ss 


in  a  small  way  from  time  to  time.  The  only  help  that  has 
been  received  from  the  United  States  has  been  through  the 
Llott-Carey  mission  society  so  the  churches  have  been  largely 
left  to  shift  for  themselves. 

The  father  of  the  present  Mr.   Hyppolite  was  converted 
from  the  Wesleyan  church  and  sent  his  son,  with  the 
of  Bishop  Holly  of  the  Episcopal   Church,  to  school  in  the 
United  States.     The  son  returned  in  1890  and  has  ever  since 
been  the  pastor  of  the  church  in  the  capital. 

The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United 
States  sustains  a  mission  in  the  Capital  with  the  Rev.  S.  E.  C. 
Lord  as  pastor  and  has  a  primary  school,  printing  press  and 
a  small  industrial  work.  They  are  erecting  a  new  church 
building  gradually  with  funds  collected  on  the  field. 

The  English  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  has  had  work 
in  Haiti  for  about  one  hundred  years.  It  grew  very  rapidly 
but  persecution  drove  away  the  workers  who  were  absent  for 
about  25  years  and  then  returned  to  continue  it.  The  work 
at  Port-au-Prince  became  independent  some  ten  years  ago. 
It  is  under  the  direction  of  Rev.  A.  F.  P.  Turnbull.  This  is 
the  largest  work  in  the  capital.  It  consists  of  Bird  College, 
has  a  good  two-story  brick  building  and  enrolls  100  pupils, 
about  25  of  whom  are  boarders.  It  is  the  only  Protestant 
boarding  school  in  Haiti.  The  Mission  hall  is  built  on  the 
property  next  the  college  and  was  intended  for  a  boys'  school 
and  will  be  so  used  when  funds  have  been  collected  for  the 
building  of  the  church.  The  boys  school  is  now  conducted 
in  a  small  building  a  few  blocks  away  from  the  main  property. 
They  have  65  pupils  in  this  school  and  formerly  had  200,  when 
they  were  receiving  a  subsidy  from  the  government. 

The  church  and  chapel  in  St.  Marc  are  under  the  direction 
of  this  same  independent  movement.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Dcfue, 
of  the  regular  Wesleyan  Mission,  whose  jurisdiction  covers 
both  Haiti  and  Santo  Domingo,  lives  at  Cap  Haitien.  They 
have  organized  churches,  besides  the  one  at  Cap  Haitien,  at 
Jeremie,  and  Aux  Cayes. 

The  London  Society  sustains  only  two  foreign  workers  on 
the  island,  one  at  Cap  Haitien  and  the  other  at  Puerto  Plata, 
D.  R.  The  rest  of  the  churches  are  ministered  to  by  volunteer 
workers. 

It  can  be  seen  that  the  number  of  Protestant  workers  in 
the  republic  is  very  few  indeed,  and  that  they  are  almosl 
entirely  dependent  upon  their  own  resources.  The  Episcopal 
Board  is  the  only  one  that  seems  to  be  planning  additional 

89 


expenditures  or  enlargement  of  their  work.  The  workers 
have  been  left  for  so  long  by  themselves  that  they  have  very 
little  idea  of  any  enlargements.  Practically  all  of  them  ex- 
pressed interest  and  promised  co-operation  in  the  program 
which  I  outlined  to  them  of  probable  activities  of  the  churches 
in  the  United  States.  While  we  should  give  these  workers 
credit  for  having  labored  patiently  for  many  years  with  prac- 
tically no  encouragement,  and  do  nothing  that  would  seem  to 
discount  their  efforts,  yet,  in  working  out  a  new  program,  we 
may  consider  the  Republic  as  practically  a  virgin  field. 

After  what  has  been  said  about  the  necessity  of  making  the 
religious  program  practical  in  Haiti,  the  advisability  of  de- 
veloping a  program  along  the  following  lines  is  very  evident. 
The  program  suggested  for  the  next  five  years  in  Haiti  calls 
for  the  opening  of  work  in  three  principal  centers,  from  which 
will  be  extended  into  the  country  districts  the  parts  of  those 
activities  which  are  best  adapted  to  those  regions. 

In  Port-au-Prince  will  be  located  an  institutional  plant, 
with  a  chapel  for  an  American  church.  Activities  in  this  in- 
stitutional church  would  be  along  the  same  lines  as  those 
already  mentioned  for  Santo  Domingo  City,  with  special 
emphasis  in  the  educational  department  on  industrial  work 
for  girls.  An  industrial  boarding  school  for  boys  along  the 
lines  of  Hampton  Institute,  but  more  elemental,  should  be 
built  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city.  A  training  school  for  Chris- 
tian workers  should  be  placed  on  an  adjoining  campus.  A 
large  hospital  and  nurses'  training  school  would  complete  the 
trio  of  activities  which  will  serve  the  spiritual,  mental,  and 
physical  sides  of  these  most  needy  peoples. 

In  Cap  Haitien,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  republic,  the 
three  institutions  such  as  are  planned  for  Port-au-Prince,  but 
on  a  smaller  scale,  with  the  training  school  for  Christian  work- 
ers omitted.  In  Gonaives,  there  should  be  an  institutional 
church  and  industrial  boarding  school  for  girls.  Evangelistic 
work  developed  in  the  centers  named  through  the  institutional 
churches  should  be  pushed  out  into  the  smaller  towns  and 
country  districts  as  rapidly  as  possible.  There  is  great  need 
for  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  the  city  of  Port- 
au-Prince,  where  work  among  government  students  and  com- 
munity recreation  would  be  a  prominent  feature. 


90 


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Resources  of  the  future  in  the  Dominican  Republic:  By  A.  C.  Shorey. 
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(The  city  of)  Santiago  de  los  Caballeros:  By  Eliseo  Espaillat.  Re- 
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Hayti:  Misunderstood.  By  Elsie  Clews  Parsons.  In  "The  Indepen- 
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Haiti  for  the  White  Man:     Ills.     In   "The   South   American,"   March 

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